


But It's Better If You Do

by writingdeluerann



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Crossdressing, Drugs, F/M, M/M, Murder, Other, Spies & Secret Agents, Spy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-21
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 21:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/892057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingdeluerann/pseuds/writingdeluerann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Zayn are young spies that work for The Agency. They have spent their entire lives behind the walls of that building and in the underground levels that have become their home. When they get back from a small assignment they are given the biggest mission of their lives. They are told to go under cover as Marcel and Georgia Rose in order to uncover the truth behind a series of murders and disappearances at a local high school in Seattle, Washington.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi so like many other people I got major feels after seeing harry as Marcel and Zayn as Georgia Rose so that’s how this fic came about. It is gonna be multiple chapters. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All situations and how people are presented in this work is based solely on my imagination and do not depict how they actually are. I do not own One Direction and am not affiliated with them in anyway.

**Prologue**

 

“Next time we’re not taking a train.” I said to Zayn as we pushed open the heavy door walking into the lobby.

            It was quiet except for Jessica, the receptionist, sitting at the lobby desk tying on the computer. The keys making a tapping noise in the air.

“But Harry it was so fun.” Zayn said looking at me with those awful caramel eyes of his. I didn’t get how anyone could have such perfect eyes, but he did and he knew it. I wanted to be mad at him, but I couldn’t. I let out a sigh in defeat and Jessica looked up giving us a warm smile.

“Welcome back” She whispered and then went back to her typing.

 We walked until we got to the elevator that was on the far wall in the middle of the lobby. It was the only door at this level of the building because everything else was down stairs. It sort of reminded me of Men In Black. I laughed at that as the elevator doors opened and we got inside. The doors closed and creepy music began to play over the speakers.

“You know I never get how they choose this music. Why would anyone enjoy it?” I said turning to Zayn.

He rolled his eyes and looked at me. “Harry you do realize we have this same conversation like every time we get into the lift?”

“Yeah, but your point?”

“My point is that the music is never gonna change so you might as well enjoy it.”

The elevator dinged as we got to level 2 underground.

“But how can I enjoy it when it’s so morbid.”

We walked out of the lift and into Grand Central Station or at least that’s what I like to think of it as because that’s how it looked. We looked like a busy beehive. Thousands of agents dressed in the same suit and tie walking around with the speed of light and the determination of Die Hard.

_I am home._ I thought to myself as me and Zayn continued walking in rounding around the long circle slop that led to the floor. It had been two weeks since we last saw this place and it hung in the air like a cloud because as soon as we stepped onto the ground floor my mother appeared out of no where.

“Aw baby I’ve missed you both.” She said pulling us into a tight hug.

“Mom I can’t breathe.” I said into her neck. She laughed and let us go.

“What took you so long getting back I thought you would have been back a couple days ago?”

I crossed my arms and looked directly at Zayn.

“Don’t look at me like that Harry. It wasn’t my fault.”

“Really?” I said raising an eyebrow. I turned toward my mom and explained. “See Zayn thought it would be nice and relaxing if we took a train home instead of a plane like normal people.”

“Aw well that’s seems nice.” Mom said smiling at him.

“See” Zayn said. “I told him it was good idea. It really was nice.”

“Yeah, but it took forever to get home.” I said pouting.

My mom smiled at me and grabbed my cheek. “Aw well honey your home now so no worries.” She paused. “but please call next time. You had me worried sick.”

“Sorry mom.” I said leaning in and kissing her on the cheek.

Zayn did the same. “Yeah sorry Anne. Won’t happen again.”

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me mom?” She said to Zayn.

“Sorry mom.” He said correcting himself.

“Alright since all is well in the kingdom I’m gonna get back to work.” She began walking off, but then turned back around. “Oh and Niall was looking for you.”

We nodded our heads and turned walking. We weaved ourselves in, out, and around every desk and moving body until we finally got the other side and walked into another cold hallway. It was quiet. Zayn had been quiet since we left from talking to my mom and I knew why.

Zayn had grown up here like I had. He had come around the same time that B happened. B was what changed everything. It was the reason we all ate, slept, and worked here. It was the reason I no longer had a father and Zayn no longer had parents. The story goes that in 2000 a few of the agents went on a high profile mission. I don’t know where they went or what it is about, but what I do know is that it ended up lasting longer than expected. When they got back everything seemed fine until we were informed that two of the agents had disappeared, Zayn’s parents, and one agent, my dad, had been killed. What was bad was that everyone actually made it home okay or at least my parents did. It wasn’t until my mom came to pick me up from my baby sitters house and we got home that she knew something was wrong. She left me in the car, but when she went upstairs she found my dad killed and something was missing. No one will tell me what that something was or why it all happened. They just sort of buried it under the rug and have referred to it as B ever since. They moved every agent out of their own homes and made an underground community below the Agency building. So that’s how we grew up and that’s why I didn’t push for a conversation. I just let him have his thoughts as we walked hallway after hallway until we got to the elevator leading to level 3, which were our rooms/underground community.

When the doors open we were met with Niall who quickly walked out and turned us back around into the direction we had just come.

“But Niall we were tr–”

“Nonsense” Niall said clapping us on the back. “The director wants to meet with you two anyway says it’s important.”

Zayn looked up then. He had just been walking quietly beside us until then. “He wants to meet with us?”

“We’re not in trouble are we?” I said eyes widening.

Niall began to laugh. “No he just wants to meet with you. He does that from time to time you know being that he’s the director.”

“Very funny Niall. We get that, but why us?”

“Yeah he’s never done it before?”

“I don’t know.” Niall said exasperated. “It’s something important though so be good.”

He stopped, gave us a reassuring smile, and walked away. We were at the door that led to the director’s office and I was terrified. He had never once called us into his office. I could only remember physically seeing him once and that was when I was a baby. Even then he was just a tall shadow in the room. I didn’t know what he looked like or how he dressed. I just knew this was the man that ran everything. This was the man that held everything like Apollo and this was the man that wanted to meet with us. I wanted to poop my pants.

“Harry calm down we’re not going into a high gun fight we’re just meeting with the director.”

            “Right.” I said breathing. “Just meeting with the director.”

            I let out a small breath and we opened the door walking the short hallway to another door. When we opened it the room lit up and we both stared confused. It was like a normal office except bigger. The walls were dark and the carpet was a maroon. There was a large desk at the front of the room accompanied by a small couch and mini bar to the right. On the left was a bookcase as well as a door leading to another room. We walked further into the room slowly and looked all around, but no one was there.

            “So is he here or did we come at a bad ti–” I began to say, but was cut off as the flat screen TV that was in front of us flashed to life. We both walked slowly and silently until we were at the desk and staring up at the TV screen. Suddenly the picture came clear and on the screen we saw a shadowed figure sitting quietly behind a desk. He didn’t say anything, but just looked.

            “Director?” Zayn said first.

            Instantly the figure moved and came closer, but he still stayed in the shadows where we couldn’t see his face. “Hello boys, did you have a nice trip?”

            “Yeah,” Zayn said first.

            “It was quite lovely.” I said confused.

            He cleared his throat. “That’s good.” He paused.

            There was an awkward silence that filled the room because we didn’t know what he wanted or what we were doing. We certainly hadn’t expected him to just randomly ask about our trip like we had gone on a holiday instead of on a spy mission. He seemed to get our confusion and decided to get on with it. He pushed a bit from his desk on the screen and we watched as he pressed a button that we couldn’t see. Instantly there were two folders coming through the front of the desk. We grabbed them and opened them up.

            “Marcel T. Lemmon?” I asked reading the name.

            “Georgia Rose Curtis?” Zayn said raising an eyebrow. “Are these our next targets?”

            The director let out a breath. “Two years ago we got a tip off about strange activities going on at High Points High School.”

“What type of activities?” I said looking up at the screen.

“A series of disappearances and things of that nature. Students would go unseen for days at a time and then just show up somewhere out of the blue. They would be groggy and incoherent. They would have no recollection of what happened or where they had been.”

“So why haven’t we done anything yet?” Zayn said.

“Well right when we were about to the police ruled it a drug problem and so we were called off, but it’s what’s happened in recent news that has us concerned.”

“What’s happened?” we both said at the same time.

“Two murders.”

“Two?” I said

“About a month ago I received an email and in it had more information.”

“What did it say?” Zayn asked.

“It was the principal. He had been drugged, beaten, and murdered. He had gone missing for about a week and when they found him he was on display at the front of the school bloody and dead.”

“And the second?” Zayn asked.

“It was a girl. She had been a foreign exchange student from Russia. She had been there for maybe a couple months when she went missing. When they found her she was tied up to a chair on the stage in the theater. She was beaten really badly. She had lacerations on her neck from where it looks like she had nearly been strangled and her neck was broken.”

“What do you want us to do?” We asked again at the same time.

The Director let out a sigh and then leaned up in his seat. “I want you two to go undercover. I want you to enroll in the high school and find out what’s going and stop it.”

“But why us?” I asked. “We’re only barely teenagers ourselves. I mean I’m only nineteen and Zayn’s twenty.”

“Exactly.” The Director said. “You are the best field agents we have that are your age. You may be nineteen and twenty, but you can still easily pass for teenagers in high school.”

“So these aren’t our targets.” Zayn asked although I could tell it wasn’t a question.

I looked at him and then down at the folder as realization hit. “These are our disguises.”

“Yes. So what do you say?” The Director said.

I jumped up with a big smile on my face. “I’m down. We’ve never been to public school. This should be fun.”

“Wait?” Zayn said suddenly. “But my folder is a girl.”

“Yes it is. We needed one of you to connect with the girls in the high school.”

“But what about Harry?” Zayn began to pout. “Why can’t he be the girl?”

“Yeah” I said suddenly. “Why can’t I be the girl? Would I not be pretty enough?”

The Director let a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “Harry I have no doubt that you would make a lovely girl, but Zayn here he has more of the build for a girl.” He turned his chair toward me. “Harry you have very broad shoulders and your hands are huge, but Zayn here is very skinny and well look at his cheek bones.”

I shrugged my shoulders because it was true. If anyone of us were going to be the girl it would be him. I turned to look at Zayn with understanding, but he still didn’t look convinced.

“But Director I–” Zayn began.

“–‘Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.’ Napoleon Hill” The Director said.

            Zayn seemed to get it them and nodded his head. “I guess I’ll make a pretty girl.”

            “That’s the spirit.” I said clapping Zayn on the back to which he shot me a death glare.

            “When do we leave?” I asked turning away from Zayn and looking at the screen.

            “Tonight”

            “Tonight?” Zayn said snapping out of it. “We just got back.”

            “Yeah I know, but we need you to get on this as soon as possible. So go now.

Those folders will be your identities from now on so I suggest you learn them by tomorrow because if you mess up then everything will be on you and that mean it will be on me.”

            We nodded our heads. “Plus we don’t want another life to be taken. If we can do something to stop that then we will.”

            “We understand.” We said together. We grabbed our folders and began leaving out. When we got nearly to the door the director called for us to stop and we turned around.

            “Yes Sir?” Zayn said.

            “I should warn you boys. You’re not going alone.” He paused. “Harry Anne is going too.”

            “What?” I said raising and eyebrow.

            “Well you didn’t expect to be a couple high school students living on your own did you. You need a parent to go with you for appearance purposes and to help you out at times and why not send her? She is one of our best agents and well she’s already your mother so it seemed fit.”

            “No fair I re–”

            “Great achievement…” Zayn began to say.

            “…is usually born of great sacrifice blah blah. Yeah I get it.” I said turning around and walking out. “Still not fair.”

            “Well I don’t want to be a girl, but the world isn’t fair so.” Zayn said as we walked down the hallway and to the elevator leading to level 3.

            He pushed the button and the doors opened. We got in and I leaned against the wall. I opened up my folder and began to read.

            “Marcel T. Lemmon. Who even came up with that name?” I said looking toward Zayn. He was ignoring me though reading his own profile so I continued. “Straight A student. All honors classes. Where’s glasses… _Glasses?_ ” I stared down at the paper. “I haven’t worn glasses in forever.”

            “Not the end of the world Haz” Zayn said.

            “That’s easy for you to say you don’t have to wear glasses. What does yours say?”

            Zayn let out a sigh. The door dinged that we reached level 3 and we got out walking to our room.

            “Georgia Rose Curtis. The average student. She is Marcel’s cousin…” Zayn faded off shrugging his shoulders like none of the rest mattered.

            We finally got to our room, which was more like an apartment, to find our bags packed already and sitting waiting for us. On the table were the plane tickets and more instructions on what was going to go on once we landed. I grabbed them and we both headed over to the couch. I put my folder down on the small table in front of us and looked at the paper.

            “Our plane leaves at six. What time is it?” I said looking at Zayn.

            He looked at his phone. “Three.”

            “Figures,” I said shrugging my shoulders. “The flight is 10 hours. We’re going to Seattle. They already set us up a house. They said all sufficient clothing has already been provided in our bags and at the house…”

            “So basically everything has been taken care of?” Zayn asked.

            “Seems like it.” I said then got up.

            I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a banana and began to eat it. I sat on top of the counter. Zayn got up too and came to the kitchen although he didn’t eat anything. He just stood there.

            “I wonder what school is gonna be like?” He said suddenly.

            “Me too.”

            “You know cause we’ve been stuck in this place our entire lives. We’ve never been to school. We’ve never walked a hallway…”

            “…We’ve never gone to a school dance or a football game…”

            “Hell” Zayn said making direct eye contact with me. “We never had a prom. We never even stayed outside this building long.”

            I looked at Zayn because that was true. We had spent our entire lives here except for the beginning of our childhood, which didn’t count because that seemed so far away that even my memory was foggy. We had never done the whole school thing or even been around any teenagers other than like the two other ones that worked here with their parents. It wasn’t often that agents had kids so we never experienced that. It was finally dawning on me. Suddenly I wasn’t so happy. My face hung low and I stopped eating my banana as I thought about it all. How were we going to do this? We weren’t adults and all this pressure had been put on us. We had gone on missions and things had gotten bad before, but this seemed worse. I’m finally going to have the high school experience I never had and I knew nothing of what to do. What if they didn’t like me? What if I screwed up the mission?

            Zayn’s shadow cast in front of me and I looked up. He stood in front of me and he looked me square in the eye. “I know it’s scary, but everything is gonna be okay Harry. Our mom is even gonna be there. We’re not gonna screw this up.”

            “How do you know?” I said with a shaky breath.

            He smiled at me. “I just do.”

            I nodded my head and got off the counter. It was already 3:30 and if I was going to be sitting on a plane for 10 hours I wanted to get a small nap in so I turned and headed toward my bedroom.

            “Gonna take a nap. Wake me up at 4 please.”

            Zayn nodded his head and I closed the door to my room.

 

 

**Chapter 1: Marcel T. Lemmon and** ~~Georgia Rose~~ **Veronica Curtis**

            “How do I look?” I said turning toward Zayn who began to laugh at me.

            “You look–”

            I turned away from him and back toward the mirror. “I don’t look that bad do I?”

            I had on a white button up with a tie and slacks. Over the button up I had on a sweater vest along with brown shoes, which was the only thing apart of my wardrobe that I was wearing. This was excluding my watch, which was also mine. Over all I did not look or feel myself, but I guess that’s the point isn’t it. My hair was slicked back and had so many products in it to maintain my usual curls that it felt like it would take weeks just to wash out.

            “You sure I look fine?” I said looking at Zayn again. I needed reassurance.

            “You look fine Harry. At least you’re still a guy. Look at me.” Zayn said and he turned toward me.

            Zayn surprisingly didn’t look too bad. If I didn’t already know it was Zayn I would’ve thought he was a girl.

            “Harry why are you looking at me like that? Do I look that bad?” Zayn said looking down at himself and then back at me.

            “No you actually look really pretty.” I said honestly.

            “Oh” Zayn said and got in front of me so that he would be in the mirror. “I do don’t I?”

            “Oh here we go. You’re gonna be in the mirror the entire way to school.” I said walking away from Zayn and going into my bathroom.

            The Agency had done an actually really good job at setting up the house. It was very large. It was a lot larger than the average house, but not huge like a celebrities. We looked like we were a respectable family that had grown up with money. The neighborhood we lived in said it too. It was a gated community. You had to have a password and be on the guest list to even get in. The community was big and it included a lot of houses, but ours was alone. It was up a long trail away from all the others. It looked mysterious, but I am sure that is why they got it. We needed to be able to be both secret agents and our disguises without the prying eyes of nosey neighbors.

            The house also came with two cars, a Mercedes and an Audi R8. I suspect that they were both for mom, although I could drive. I think mom may have pulled some strings into letting her pick out the cars because I’ve always wanted the Audi R8, but when you are constantly gone on a plane, train, taxi, and etc. you don’t really have a need for a car. Nonetheless though I still had got my drivers license for a time that I just might be able to drive. This was that time and I was inwardly patting myself on that back for it.

In the house there were more rooms than I could count and more space than I could ever imagine. Zayn and me even got our own rooms, which was a plus since it’s something we’ve never had. It wasn’t like I didn’t like rooming with Zayn just sometimes everyone needs their space. The room we were in now though was mine. Zayn had come in after getting dressed. He had mom help him with his make up and help him put on this weird bra thing that I knew they had designed to not only give him fake boobs, but cleavage also. It made him look weirdly like a real girl. And other than the fact that he was a girl and some things about his wardrobe had to change for the most part it was still him. His hair was really long and filled with curls. He had on a Monroe short sleeve white shirt along with a red Balenciaga jacket. He had a Kristen Stewart thing going on that really worked for him. I felt like if he was a girl. He would actually dress like that.

            I walked over to the sink and turned on the water and began brushing my teeth. I needed to be in tiptop shape for my first day of public school.

            _Tiptop shape?_ I thought to myself. _Marcel must already be rubbing off on me._

            I rinsed my mouth out and the cut the water off and walked back into my room where Zayn was sitting on the bed playing with his phone.

            “Zayn we need to figure out what voices we are going to do.” I said walking in front of him.

            He looked up at me. “Yeah okay. What are you going to do?”

            I thought about it for a minute then I had a light bulb moment. I hunched my shoulders a little like I was afraid and then began to fidget a little like I was nervous. I grabbed my black rim glasses of the bed and put them on.

            “How is this?” I cleared my throat. “It’s hot in here. My collars chafing.” I said a nasally nerd voice.

            Zayn’s eyes widened. He put his phone down and stared at me. “Har–Marcel that was great.”

            “Was it r–” I stopped and cleared my voice fixing it to the way Marcel would talk. “Was it really?”

            “Yeah Marcel you song really good. I need to work on mine.”

            Zayn stood up and looked at himself in the mirror then turned to me. He cleared his throat. “How do I sound?”

            My eyes began to widen because although he still sounded sort of guy-ish. He actually was pulling on his women voice really well. He was doing a sort of breathy Marilyn Monroe/ Jessica Rabbit voice. It sounded weirdly okay.

            “Zay–Georgia you sound really good.”

            Zayn frowned at me. “What?” I said as Marcel. I needed to get as much practice in as possible.

            “I really don’t like that name.”

            “Seriously Zayn it’s only a name it’s not a tattoo” Marcel said. I was getting the hang of this.

            “I know, but I need a name that sounds as sexy as I look,” Georgia Rose said.

            In the middle of Georgia talking mom came bursting into the room. “What are you two doing? We need to–”

            “Oh my” She said coming fully into the room. “You two look so gorgeous.”

            She began smiling and grabbed both of us into a big hug.

            Georgia instantly pulled away. “Mom you’re messing up my make up?”

            Mom turned and looked at her. “Is that your girl voice? It’s actually quite good.”

            “Yeah mom you’re bunching up my clothes.” I said also pulling away and she smiled at me.

            She stood there staring at us for a few minutes before she clicked out of it and her expression totally changed. Her smile was gone and now in a hard line. Her eyebrows were tight and her expression blank as she began to talk.

            “What’s your name?” Mom asked.

            “Marcel T. Lemmon”

            “Georgia Rose Curtis”

            “How old are you?”

            “Seventeen”

            “Eighteen”

            “How are you related?”

            “We’re cousins” We both said at the same time.

            Mom crossed her arms and then continued. “Why does Georgia live with us instead of her own parents?”

            Georgia hesitated, but not for long. “My parents died in a tragic accident. You were on the will to take me in. Here I am.”

            “Where are we from?” She asked next.

            “England”

            “London.”

            “Why did we move?”

            “Job” We both said at the same time.

            “More specific?” She countered.

            “You work for a marketing company in London. They are opening up a new building here and they transferred you to get it up and running.” Georgia answered.

            “Good.” She said and relaxed.

            We relaxed too. I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding as we continued to look at her.

            “I’m sorry I did that, but I need you both to understand that yes this is going to be fun, but this is a job. You are working and I need you to remember that always. You have to make everyone, even me, believe that you are these people because if you slip up that could be our lives.”

            Everything that she spoke hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew the weight of what we did, but I hadn’t fully understood it until now. This was serious. This was going to be the biggest mission of our lives.

            “So after we walk out this door.” She turned pointing at my room door, turned back, and then continued. “You are Marcel and Georgia.”

            “Okay” We said together and then grabbed our stuff for school.

            “Give me your folders.” She said as we walked to my door.

            I grabbed them off of my desk and handed them to her. She clutched them and we headed out of the door. We walked silently down the steps until we got to the first floor. We began walking to the garage, but when we passed the living room she stopped us.

            “Wait right here a minute.”

            I watched her as she walked over to the fireplace and turned it on. When it was blazing enough she took the folders from her hand and threw them in. My eyes widened as I watched her, but I understood. When she was done she rejoined us, got her keys, her purse, and we left.

 

_____

 

**3 rd P. POV **

            “Okay we’re here.” Anne said pulling into the school and parking.

            She was nervous. She was probably more nervous than both her daughter and son combined, but they didn’t need to know that. She had to stay strong for them.

            “Mom its only school.” Marcel said from the back on the car.

He already had his backpack on and strapped too high on his back. Georgia however was sitting coolly in the front seat as if this was just another thing. She was looking outside the window with her Ray Ban’s on twisting her hair.

“Alright lets go.” Anne said finally and they all got out of the car.

They walked silently up the long steps and into the front of the school. Georgia and Marcel became mesmerized as soon as they walked in. They looked at everything from the lockers to the classrooms. They looked at every small detail like the pattern of the floor. They were ready to finally be in public school especially since being homeschool all their lives. They finally came to the front office and they all walked in. There was a petite woman with brown hair sitting behind the desk when they walked in. She looked up and smiled.

“Welcome to High Points High my name is Sarah and how may I help you today.” Sarah asked politely.

“Yes these are my children. We just moved here from London. I’m wanting to get them enrolled into classes.”

“Okay ma’am. For starters what are their names so I can put them into the system?” Sarah said leaning toward the computer yet looking at Anne.

Anne cleared her throat. “Yes of course. This is my son Marcel T. Lemmon.”

“Could you spell that for me ma’am?” Sarah asked.

“Yes. M.A.R.C.E.L.T.L.E.M.M.O.N.”

“Okay and your daughter?”

“My daughters name is Ge–”

“Veronica” Georgia said before Anne could get it out. “My name is Veronica Rose Curtis.”

Anne and Marcel turned and looked at Veronica with wide eyes, but soon recovered. Anne cleared her throat and smiled politely at Sarah who was looking confused.

“Okay well I have them entered in. If they just want to wait outside for a minute so I can go over some things with you that would be great.”

Anne turned toward them. “Go outside and wait I’ll be right out.”

Marcel and Veronica both nodded and walked out of the office. They sat outside on the small bench beside the door. They sat there in awkward silence before Marcel began looking around when he felt satisfied he leaned in toward Veronica.

“I thought your name was suppose to be Georgia Rose not Veronica Rose?” marcel whispered.

Veronica simply rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. “If I’m going to be stuck with a name it might as well be something I like. Plus Veronica is sexier.”

“Well I–” Marcel began to say, but was cut short as Anne was walking out of the office with two pieces of paper in her hand.

“Okay I’m done.” Anne said toward her kids and they stood up. “These are your schedules. She said it would be okay for today that you didn’t have your things, but to have them tomorrow.”

Anne handed them their school schedule and they all turned and began to walk down the hallway. When they got to the end of the hallway Anne stopped and looked at them.

“I’m so happy for you to.” She said as her eyes began to water.

“Mum don’t cry.” Marcel said walking up to hug her.

“Yeah don’t cry you’ll ruin your make up.” Veronica said.

            Anne began to laugh. She wiped her tears away before they could fall and held out her arms. “Come here.’ She said.

            “Mom” Marcel said hunching his back over more than her usually did.

            Veronica simply put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. “Mom that’s not cool.”

            Anne let out an exasperated breath. “Just come here.”

            They smiled at her and walked into her waiting arms. She squeezed them tight. “I love you too so much. I’m so proud of you.”

            “We love you too mom” Veronica said.

            “Yeah mom I love you too, but we have to get to class.”

            Marcel pulled himself away and Anne let them go. They turned around as they began walking to their classrooms while Anne walked out of the door and headed home trying not to cry so much.

 

____

 

            “Alright class we have a couple of new students.” Mr. Harris said as Veronica and Marcel stood at the top of the classroom.

            They both looked around nervously. Everyone was looking at them with mixed emotions of awe and confusion. Everyone except two people that they both noticed instantly. Sitting in the back of the far right corner were two blokes. One had blue eyes and a hair full of fringe. He was leaned over smiling and laughing with the boy in front of him who had chocolate brown eyes and his hair was in a short Mohawk. Marcel didn’t care about him though he couldn’t keep his eyes off of the blue-eyed bloke. Veronica had her eyes on the other.

            “This is Marcel Lemmon and Veronica Curtis.”

            Instantly the two boys shot their gaze up at them and they all locked eyes for what seemed like minutes until it was broken with the sound of one of the boys’ voices.

            “I think there’s been a mistake.” The blue eyes boy began. “I think the Urkel convention is down the hall and two the left, but if you leave right now you might make it.”

            The entire classroom erupted in laughter.

            “Louis that wasn’t nice” The chocolate eye one said as he too began to laugh.

            Marcel took his eyes away from the boys and drew inside himself. It was the first day of school and he was already being made fun of. Veronica looked over at him and she noticed his mood change. Her lips became tight and her eyebrows sharp as anger began to fill her. She began to ball up her fist ready to say something until Marcel shot her a look silently telling her he would be okay. She shook her head and relaxed.

            “That wasn’t very polite boy’s. Just for that Liam I want you to be Veronica’s guide for the rest and the week and Louis I want you to be Marcel’s guide for the rest of the week.”

            Louis rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. The teacher turned toward Marcel and Veronica who were still standing at the front of the room.

            “Please forgive me. Veronica if you would please take the seat in front of Liam and Marcel take the seat beside Louis that would be wonderful. I would seat you somewhere else, but we don’t have any other seats.”

            Louis watched as Marcel walked quietly down the isle. His body was hunched over from his backpack and he had the largest glasses on that Louis had ever seen. He was wearing clothes like he walked right into Louis’ grandfathers closet and well he didn’t find this guy attractive at all. He watched him all the way until he sat down beside him letting his book bag slide to the floor. Louis decided that he might as well get a good look at him before he starts ignoring him so he looked over and instantly he wished he hadn’t. Marcel was looking at him too and their eyes locked. Louis stared into Marcel’s green eyes that were under his glasses. They looked like emeralds sparkling in the light. Louis didn’t understand how a nerd like him could acquire such beautiful eyes, but he figured your body doesn’t know if your going to be nerd before your born so I guess he just got lucky. Louis looked at Marcel’s eyes for a moment longer until he abruptly turned back to the front as if he hadn’t just been doing what he had been doing. Marcel stared at Louis for what seemed like minutes until he finally turned back around. He wanted to be mad at Louis, but once he had seen his eyes it all went away. Louis’ eyes were the perfect shade of blue. They were like the ocean or the sky. He could get lost in those eyes if he looked long enough. He wanted to turn back around, but something told him not too so instead he turned his head toward his sister Veronica who was giggling with Liam across the isle.

            Veronica again had her hands at the ends of her hair twirling them as she giggled at Liam from behind her. He had been whispering to her since she sat down. At first she tried to ignore him, but as time went on that became more and more impossible. So that’s how they ended how they were now laughing over comic books of all things. Veronica couldn’t even remember how they even got on that subject and neither could Liam. He was just happy they had because what kind of girl likes comic books. This was a once every blue moon girl so Liam had to have her no matter how much it took.

            “Okay class get ready the bell will be ringing in a minute.” Mr. Harris said.

            No sooner than he spoke the words did the bell ring. Marcel got up slipping his backpack on and Veronica stood up grabbing her binder and her pencil. They all walked out the classroom together.

            “S’what’s your next class?” Liam asked Veronica.

            “Theater” She said smiling at him. She really was enjoying Liam. He was nice and he seemed to be talking about any and everything. She knew it wouldn’t be hard to get any information out of him.

            “Okay well that’s actually in the opposite direction that they’re going so.” Liam said stopping.

            “Okay well Marcel are you okay?” Veronica asked before she walked away.

            “Ye-yes I am okay,” He said nervously.

            She nodded her head and walked away.

            As soon as they walked away Louis let out a breath of relief and Marcel looked at him confused.

            “Liam is like putty in girls hands. He just doesn’t understand the concept of waiting.”

            Marcel was confused. “Wh–What do you mean?” He asked stumbling over his words.

            Louis turned and looked at him exasperated. “Never mind. What’s your next class?”

            “Uh” Marcel said fumbling with his schedule and then accidently dropped it in the middle of the hallway causing him to have to stop and get it, which in turn made people almost step all over him.

            Louis grabbed Marcel by his backpack with his hands just barely grabbing his schedule. “Let’s have a talk?”

Louis pulled Marcel into the boy’s bathroom. When they walked in there were a few boys there, but Louis didn’t care. “Get out.” He yelled and they all ran out of the bathroom as is Louis was going to beat them up if he didn’t. Marcel wondered if he would.

            When they were all gone Louis grabbed Marcel by his book bag and shoved him into the last and largest bathroom. He looked to make sure no one was there and then closed the door locking it. He turned around and Marcel was looking at him with wide eyes. The closer Louis got the further back he walked. He was afraid of what Louis would do, but something in him wanted to find out. Suddenly he was hitting a wall and Louis was basically on top of him. He didn’t know how to handle himself so he became a fidgety idiot. Louis just watched Harry as he came and stood directly in front of him.

            “Look” Louis said jabbing his finger into Marcel’s chest. “I understand you’re new and I have to show you around this hell hole all week, but what you will not do is ruin my reputation in the process.” He paused looking at Marcel’s lips absentmindedly and then looked back up. He hoped marcel hadn’t noticed that. “Now I can’t tell you how to dress or anything, but could you please try and tone down the nerd. Maybe then I won’t be forced to ignore you.”

            Marcel didn’t know what to do. His back was pressed into a wall and Louis was less that a feet in front of him. He tried to keep eye contact, but he couldn’t so he just closed his eyes and began to nod his head.

            “Okay.”

            “Good: Louis said pulling him off the wall as the bell rang. “Shit!”

            “Louis we’re late. I’m late and it’s my first day of school.” Marvel said panicking. He tugged his book bag tighter on his chest as he got ready to run out of the bathroom and take his chances. Louis seemed to sense it and he grabbed Marcel so fast he didn’t know what was happening until Louis was flush up next to me pressed against the wall.

            Both their breaths hitch as they stared at each other. What was this? Louis had never felt this weird feeling in his stomach. He didn’t like it. It made him feel things he didn’t want to feel. All he wanted to do was get to class and show Marcel to class and then promptly ignore, but he couldn’t bring his fingers to stop gripping his book bag straps or put some distance between them. So he just stood there as Marcel stared at him. He was getting lost in Louis baby blues. He hadn’t felt like this in well ever. It wasn’t any secret to him that he liked boys, but he never had the chance to do anything about it, but now. Louis was pressed so hard against his body that all he could think about was letting Louis do anything and everything he wanted too. So they stared at each other letting minutes tick by until they were brought back to reality with the sound of someone coming into the bathroom. Instantly Louis’ hands dropped and backed away from him.

            “Shit!” He said under his breath.

            “Wh–What’s wrong?” Marcel said stepping toward him and nearly tripping over his own feet. He stood up and gained his balance to find Louis noiselessly laughing at him.

            “It’s not funny.” Marcel said embarrassed. He looked down fumbling with his feet to not seem upset although he was.

            Louis looked at Marcel and instantly he felt bad, but he didn’t understood why. He had done far worse to many other people in the school so why was he acting any different with him. Louis didn’t know and he didn’t want to find out. So he decided he needed to get as far away from him so that he could get himself together. He walked over to the toilet and flushed it. As it did he walked over to Marcel and whispered in his ear. Marcel flinched when he felt Louis breath so close to him.

            “I’m really sorry, but I need to go. Your next class is like literally right across the hall. You won’t get lost.”

            Before Marcel could process anything Louis was gone and he was left standing in the bathroom alone ten minutes late to class.

            _What just happened?_

            He fixed his book bag and then walked out of the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror fixing his sweater vest and tie before walking out and heading to his next class. 


	2. Collecting Evidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcel and Veronica continue their first day of school while trying to gather the facts abut the murders and disappearances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone I am so happy about the response I am getting from this fic. It is so fun to write. Also I would be so happy if you all left comments or kudos. I love hearing what you think about it. :)

“So Veronica can I ask you a question?” Liam said as he walked her to her theater class.

            She turned her head. “Sure.”

            “I don’t mean to be I don’t know, but I like your accent. You’re from the UK?”

            “Yeah. Me, my brother, and our mum.” She said as they turned a corner.

            Liam nodded his head. “So if you’re from England then why move to Seattle? Nothing special goes on here.” He asked looking at her intently.

            “Our mom had a job transfer.” She said raising her shoulders.

            She began to wonder if Liam was actually asking this because he genuinely wanted to know or if he had another motive, but when he didn’t say anything else about it she let it drop.

            They continued to walk down the hall. They were getting stares from everyone. People wanted to know who the new girl was and why was she walking with Liam Payne, the second most popular guy in school. All the looks made Veronica self-conscious being that she was really a boy and what if people could tell? Liam looked over at her as her face crinkled a little and she nervously fixed her jacket. He leaned in close to her and brushed his hand against hers. She turned her head and looked over at him. He smiled at her and she relaxed, but fixed her hair again and then turned away from him. They didn’t say anything for the rest of the walk until they stopped outside of the theater door.

            “Well here you are.” Liam said. “This is the theater.”

            Veronica smiled at him. “Thanks Liam you’ve been very helpful.”

            “No problem.” He said and then walked up to her.

            Veronica didn’t know what to do so she just stood. As she looked at him he had something in his eyes. It made her nervous among other things. She felt heat start to build with the tension as she continued to stand there until he became flush with her. Her heart began to race and she could feel something growing in her pants with every ticking second.

_Oh my shit. Please go down. Dead kittens. Naked old people. Please don’t let Liam notice._ She thought to herself as he gently connected their hands before smiling at her and leaving. She watched as he walked away and let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding when he turned the corner. Her heart was beating in her chest and she found herself rubbing her fingers together where he had touched them.

            _What is going on with me?_ She thought.

            She opened the door walking into the large theater and froze. She was looking directly at the large stage in front of her. It was still taped off from when the police presumably came and searched for evidence. The entire thing was surrounded by caution tape except for the lower area. She walked down the long isle that lead to an open door leading backstage. When she got to the door she stopped before going in. She noticed something. She went back down the steps and turned walking into the pit. She looked around to make sure no one was watching and walked toward what she was looking at. It was a small door. She leaned in and looked closely at it. She noticed that it was a small piece of yellow tape in the center of the door. She looked at it even closer and noticed there were black marks on it.

            _Caution Tape,_ She thought and then put her binder down. She opened up her purse and grabbed the small digital camera from her bag. She snapped a few pictures all while looking to make sure no one was watching her. When she was done with that she looked in her bag until she found a small vile. She grabbed it and opened it up. She grabbed a pair of tweezers from her purse too and gently plucked the yellow tape from the door and placed it in the vile. When she was done she put everything back in the purse and grabbed her binder. She stood up as the late bell began to ring.

            “Fuck” She hissed and then ran up the steps and into the backstage area. She saw light and heard voices and followed them around a corner until she was in the green room. She walked through it and the voices got louder. She opened the door at the other end of the room and came into what was a classroom. When she entered everyone looked at her and the old teacher that had been talking turned around in her seat and peered at her.

            “Oh well hello honey. What’s your name?”

            “Veronica Curtis. I’m new here.” She said coming completely in the classroom.

            She looked at the teacher. She had gray spiky hair with big black glasses on that looked like magnifying glasses. She was big, but not huge. She had on a white blouse that looked too big and black gaucho pants that came above her ankle.

            “Well hello then welcome. They didn’t tell me I had a new student, but then again when the hell do they ever tell me anything.”

            The entire classroom erupted in laughter and Veronica just stared because had the teacher really just swore.

            “Well Veronica you can just go have a seat and if you come see me at the end of class I will make sure you have all the proper paper work.” Veronica nodded.

            She looked around the classroom at all the filled tables until she saw an empty seat at the far back left corner by yet another door. She walked through the seated students until she sat down at the only empty table. The teacher began to talk.

            “Now like I was saying we are going to start working on our winter play. I have a few options on things I want to do, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m gonna continue to read them over and then I should be decided by next week.” The Teacher said looking around the room.

            “Can you tell us what they are?” One student asked.

            “Now then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” The teacher said. She cleared her throat. “Now I don’t know what we are going to do because the stupid police still have the stage tapped off so we can’t go up there yet. The only thing I can think of is we will just have a study hall again for the time being. Remember you can sit in the house, but please don’t go on stage. In the mean time I’m gonna look at the plays some more and call the police station to see when we will be able to use our stage again. At this rate there won’t be a winter play because we won’t have anywhere to practice.” The teacher got up from her seat and went into her office and closed the door.

            “Is she okay?” Veronica asked no one in particular.

            A girl with brown short hair turned around. “She’s okay. She’s always like that.”

            Veronica nodded her head and watched as everyone got up and began walking out of the classroom and into the theater. She got up and followed everyone out. She didn’t know where she was gonna sit.

            “Hey Veronica” The same girl called. “You can sit over here with me.”

            She smiled at the girl and walked the short distance to where she was sitting at and sat down.

            “I’m Kat by the way.” She said as Veronica sat down.

            “Nice to meet you.”

            She put her stuff down in the seat next to her and looked at the stage. She was trying to get a picture in her mind of where everything must of happened, but she came up blank. She would have to physically go up there to see.

            “It sucks what happened?” Kat said suddenly.

            “Huh?” Veronica said prying her eyes away from the stage and back at Kat.

            “Oh” Kat said laughing dryly. “I thought you were looking at the stage you know with the caution tape and stuff.”

            “Oh yeah I was. I was wondering what that was about, but didn’t want to ask.”

            Kat nodded her head in understanding. She looked around the room and when satisfied she leaned over. Veronica got the signal and did the same.

“A girl from our class was found dead a few weeks ago. She was our stage manager. Her name was Svetlana Veselovsky, but everyone just called her Lana since no one could pronounce it right.”

            “What happened?” Veronica asked.

            “No one really knows. We’re not allowed to talk about it you know because of how sensitive the subject is.”

            Veronica nodded her head and began running that name through her mind. She came up blank. “If no one knows then how does everyone know she’s dead. Couldn’t she have just disappeared?”

            “Someone found her before class.”

            “Who?” Veronica asked turning toward her.

            Kat’s eyes moved away from Veronica and went around the room. They stopped when they got to the far corner. There was a girl sitting there with long black hair that was in a ponytail. She wasn’t talking or writing. She wasn’t doing anything really, but sitting there. Even from here Veronica could see that the girl was blank. It was like she wasn’t even there.

            “Her?” Veronica asked turning back to Kat. She nodded her head and then looked back at the girl. “Has anyon–”

            “We’ve tried. It’s sad really. The day it happened she came running into the classroom in hysterics. She went to Mrs. Krupko and showed her. After that they called the police and she forbid anyone from going in here so no one else saw it, but her.” She shook her head as if trying to wipe the memory away, but couldn’t and then continued. “That same day Trisha was checked out of school. The police wanted to question her. She was gone all that day. Some people say that she didn’t get back home until late that night. When she came to school the next day she was like this. She wouldn’t talk. She doesn’t say anything to anyone all day. She just sits there until it’s time to leave and that’s it.”

            Kat let out a breath and then went back to what she was doing. Veronica however couldn’t move her eyes from the girl. It made her sad looking at her. She just looked so empty like it had taken a lot from her and deep down she knew it had. **Zayn** knew exactly how she felt. 

 

_____

 

            “I notice we have a new student in class. Would you mind introducing yourself?” The teacher asked turning around from where he had been writing on the board.

            Marcel stood up nervously fixing his glasses. He thought he had came into class unnoticed, but obviously that wasn’t the case.

            “Hi um my names Marcel Lemmon. I just moved here.”

            He waved his hand awkwardly at the class and then sat down, but not without fixing his sweater vest first.

            “Thank you Marcel for that. I hope you find your time here good even in the midst of all the excitement.”

            “Your Welcome Mr.?”

            “Bates.” Mr. Bates said.

            “Your Welcome Mr. Bates and I am so sorry for my tardiness I was having a rather difficult time locating the classroom.”

            “No need to apologize son. I understand. Just try not and make it a habit.”

            Marcel nodded and then sat down in his seat. The teacher put down his dry erase marker and stepped away from the board. He began pacing the floor.

“Alright so in light of the activities that have been going on recently _and the fact that I think the police didn’t do their job_ I have decided that we will spend the rest of the class period coming up with theories for the diagnosis behind the slight amnesia that some of the victims of the disappearances have suffered.”

“But didn’t the police rule it a drug problem?” A student asked.

“They did, but does anyone recall them actually naming the drug in question?”

“No.” The student said as if defeated.

The teacher continued to walk up and down the isles. “Does anyone know why that is?”

The room was quiet for a bit and Marcel sat quietly at the back of the classroom. He needed to get as many details as possible of what happened or at least what they knew. Suddenly a student held her hand up and Mr. Bates pointed to her.

“Maybe they just don’t know what it is yet?”

“That could be so, but what else? What else could be another reason why they wouldn’t name the drug that affected a good number of the young adults of this town?”

“Maybe they think we couldn’t handle it. Maybe it’s something so bad that they feel like we would freak out if we knew.”

Mr. Bates nodded his head. “That is also a good theory because human beings in mass numbers probably would freak out so that’s a good one. Anyone else?”

            “They’re hiding something.” Marcel mumbled before he knew it.

Everyone turned to look at him. It was only then he realized what he said.

“What did you say Mr. Lemmon?” Mr. Bates asked.

Marcel cleared his throat and fixed his tie nervously. “Ah I just stated that maybe the police were hiding something.”

Mr. Bates nodded his head. “Interesting.” He didn’t say anything for a few seconds and the students watched him to see when he was going to speak. Finally he did. “Well back to the amnesia.” Mr. Bates said walking up an isle. “We need to think about all the factors of the disappearances that may have been a direct cause to the amnesia.”

            “You mean like the who, what, when, and where stuff?” A student asked. It was a girl. She had long black hair that was in a ponytail.

            “Yes Leigh-Anne that is exactly right.” The teacher said walking back up to the board. He grabbed his dry erase marker and opened it up ready to write. “So lets think about it now shall we. Do we know where the disappearances have taken place?”

            “Some of them were…”

            Marcel sat through the rest of the class period silently listening to every theory that the class came up with. None of them were incredible because all of them were basically things he could have come up with himself. The only thing he couldn’t get out of his mind was the teachers’ comments before he awkwardly moved on. _Interesting._ Marcel didn’t know what it meant, but he did file it away for later when he was at home and could discuss it with his mom.

            Sooner or later the bell rung and the teacher put the marker down freeing them to go to their next classes.

            When Marcel walked outside the classroom he was surprised to see Louis standing there against the wall waiting like he didn’t really want to be there. When Louis noticed him he got up.

            “Took you long enough. Lets go.” Louis said walking off before getting an answer.

            Marcel had to nearly jog just to catch up and when he did his body was once again hunched over with the book bag. It made his sweater vest look tight that it probably was Louis thought, but then scolded himself because why was he thinking about that. He didn’t say anything in fear he might say something he’d regret later. So they walked silently down the hallway ignoring the strange looks and whispers that everyone was giving them until they got to Louis locker.

            Louis put in his locker combination and opened it up.

            “Hey Louis I love your new boyfriend.” A boy in a varsity jacket yelled as he past them.

            Louis looked up to see the boy pass and instantly shot him the finger. “Yeah I’ll show whose daddy on the field Stan.”

            He turned back into his locker completely ignoring Marcel and let out a groan. “What is my life?” he whispered.

            Marcel dropped his face and began nervously fidgeting with his feet and his backpack straps. He looked up and at Louis. “You know you don’t have to show me around. I get it. You don’t want to be seen with me. I can manage on m–”

            “No Mar–” Louis rolled his eyes, grabbed his book out, and slammed his locker closed. He peered at Marcel. “It’s not you I’m just going through a bit of self loathing. I’m okay. Don’t take it personally if I seem rude. I’m that way with everybody.”

            Marcel shook his head and they walked on to class silently.

_____

 

            Marcel didn’t remember when from the time they walked into the classroom and sat down till now did Louis’ mood change, but it had and now he was back to torturing him. He wanted to pull his hair out as Louis kept finding everything little think to pick at. The teacher had said something more than once, but he didn’t seem to care he just kept on until the teacher turned around yet again and…

“…and for the last time Mr. Tomlinson would you please stop messing with Marcel.” The teacher said eyes widened and eyebrows up.

            Louis had been messing with Marcel since they came in. They were all sitting at a table together Veronica, Liam, Marcel, and Louis. Louis had made a game of finding ever way possible to annoy Marcel. Liam laughed and Veronica thought about stopping him at first, but then Liam would start talking to her distractingly and she would forget. Louis stopped mid pull with his hands on Marcel’s tie when he heard the teacher. He didn’t move his hands away, but he answered all the same.

“But it’s fun Mr. Brooks. I’m quite enjoying myself.”

“I understand that, but I don’t think Marcel is having as much fun so would you please stop.”

Louis moved his hand away gently, but not before giving Marcel the death glare. He let go and leaned back in his chair. Marcel spent the rest of class trying and failing to ignore Louis. He couldn’t get him out of his mind why Louis had just ran out the bathroom or why Louis did anything else he had done. I mean he didn’t think his breath smelled. He showered that morning so he knew that wasn’t it, but he didn’t know what it was. So he spent most of class trying and failing to steal glances at him. Louis would always catch him and then glare at him until he stopped for two minutes only to continue to do it again. After about thirty minutes past Louis was the one ready to pull his hair out and step on Marcel’s insanely large glasses, but the bell rang and saved him the trouble.

            He pushed the chair away roughly. It squeaked against the floor as he bolted out of the classroom toward the lunchroom. He didn’t get anything except a bag of chips. He went and sat down waiting for Liam to show up along with everyone else.

“You and Marcel should sit with us.” Liam said as they walked down the hallway to the lunchroom.  

“I don’t think so.” Marcel mumbled under his breath.

His sister turned and looked at him before turning back to Liam and smiling at him sweetly. “I don’t think we will. I need to talk to my brother, but maybe next time.”

Liam didn’t press, but simply nodded his head and left as the entered the lunchroom.

“I need to talk to you.” Veronica said grabbing Marcel and dragging him past the lunchroom.

“Where are we going?” Marcel said fixing his glasses as they wobbled with each pull.

“I’m trying to find a bathroom.”

She turned the corner and ran straight into a boy’s bathroom. She began pulling Marcel inside, but he stopped her and stared at her like she was crazy.

“What?” She said pulling on him to come on.

“You’re a girl Veronica you can’t just stroll into the boys bathroom.”

“Oh yeah” She said as realization hit her. She let out a sigh. “Go in and make sure no one is in there?”

            “What?”

            “Just go.” She said as she pushed him in and leaned against the wall trying to look casual. After about thirty seconds he came back out.

            “No ones here.”

            She pushed him in and dragged him all the way to the end stall and closed the door locking it as she did.

            “I found out some stuff?” Zayn whispered changing his voice back to normal.

            “What did you find out?” Harry said doing the same.

            “For starters the girls name was Svetlana Veselovsky. She was in theater. She was the stage manager.”

            “Well isn’t that ironic.” Harry mumbled. “What else?”

            “The entire stage in the theater is taped off except for the pit which is the bottom area in front of the stage.”

            “What’s so special about the bottom not being taped off? Maybe they didn’t think they needed to tape it off.” Harry asked.

            “I thought the exact same thing until I found this.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out the vile.

            Harry grabbed it. “What’s this?”

            “A very small piece of caution tape.”

            “Where’d you find it?”

            “At the bottom of the pit. It was on one of the doors.”

            “But I thought you said that part wasn’t taped off.”

            “Exactly it wasn’t and at first I was confused too, but then it clicked.”

            Harry handed the vile back to him. “What clicked?”

            “I think that at first it was taped off, but then whoever did this came back. I’m not sure why, but they came back maybe because they forgot something and just forgot to put the caution tape back on.”

            “Oh well that mak–”

            Zayn slammed his hands on Harry’s mouth before he could even finish his sentence. There were two boys coming into the bathroom.

            “Dude have you seen that new girl?”

            “What new girl?”

            “You know the one with the long hair and nice boobs. She’s been walking around with Liam all day.”

            Harry rolled his eyes as he listened to the boys, but Zayn smiled to himself because he made a pretty girl. Zayn took his hand off of Harry’s mouth, but they didn’t move or speak.

            “Yeah I have she’s so hot. Are they a thing?”

            “Why? You think you have a chance?”

            Zayn pulled out his phone from his back pocket and looked at the time. They would be late if he didn’t do something. He looked at Harry for a few seconds before an idea came to his mind. He leaned in close to Harry and whispered.

            “I need for Marcel to start moaning?”

            “Moaning?” Harry asked, but then shrugged his shoulders and let out a nerdy moan only it sounded like he was a dying cat.

            “What the hell?” one of the boys from in the bathroom said.

            “Not like that” Zayn whispered again. “Like sex moaning Harry geez, but remember you’re Marcel and I’m Veronica.”

            He seemed to get the point and let out another nerdy moan only this time it sounded appropriate. “aahhhh this feels stupendous. Harder baby pull on my sweater. I like it like that.” Marcel said.

            “Is he?” the other boy said.

            “I’m leaving.” The boys said and they walked out if the bathroom.

            They both stopped and let out a sigh. “That was close.” Veronica said as the boys left and she unlocked the door. “We need to hurry up before we’re late.”

            Marcel nodded his head and followed her out of the bathroom. He stopped though looking in the mirror. He fixed his tie and his button up. He pulled down his sweater vest and fixed his glasses. Veronica turned around and stared at him for a minute before getting impatient.

            “Marcel lets go.”

            “Okay okay” He said.         

______ 

            “So Veronica babe would you like to explain why someone saw you and Urkel here leaving out of the bathroom together?” Louis asked not even a minute after we sat down returning to class.

            Marcel instantly looked at his sister with raised eyebrows. He didn’t think anyone had seen them, but apparently they had. What was he going to say? What was she going to say? He didn’t know. He was about to come up with a random lie, but Veronica spoke.

            “And who told you that?” Veronica said calmly.

            “A very reliable source” Louis said.

            Liam sighed. “One of our friends that plays soccer with us said he saw you and your brother leaving the bathroom together.”

            “He also said that before he left the bathroom he heard distinctive sounds that one shouldn’t hear between siblings. Would you care to explain?” Louis asked.

            Veronica rolled her eyes. “If you must know yes I was in the bathroom with Marcel, but it’s not what you think.”

            “What is it then?”

            “Marcel was born with a condition.”

            “Really?” Louis said crossing his arms.

            Liam leaned forward. “What kind of condition?”

            They looked at Harry, but he froze. He didn’t know what to say. His glasses began fogging up with nervousness and Veronica let out a sigh.

            “It’s sort of like turrets except instead of shouting phrases or words spontaneously. Marcel moans spontaneously.”

            “What?” Marcel heard himself say before it was too late.

            “It’s okay they know now so there is no use in hiding it.” Veronica said pronouncing ‘it’ with a sharp sound.

            She was trying to tell him to just go with it and it took a long stare for him to register that.

            “Yeah it’s such a horrible condition.” Marcel said pouting his lips. “It brings me such embarrassment.”

            No one said anything after that because what do you say to that. Marcel was grateful though because it was only the first day of school and he already felt so embarrassed that he would rather be ate by a lion than come back. He could feel his face going read as he continued to think about it and out of nowhere he felt Louis flush against him. Something told him not to look over so he didn’t he just waited to see what he would. Louis leaned over close to his ear.

            “If it makes you feel any better I don’t think that’s such an embarrassing condition. It could be quiet useful.”

            Louis straightened up as if he didn’t even say anything leaving Marcel slowly hardening in his trousers because had Louis implied what he though he had. He honestly didn’t know, but to his body it didn’t care. It continued to react until Marcel’s books found a permanent spot on his lap for the rest of class. He hoped no one noticed.  


	3. Analyzing Evidence: No Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcel and Veronica finish their first day of school. Harry and Zayn explain what they found to Anne. They go to the school to collect more evidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys for the wait, but it’s here enjoy. Also it is not proofread so if you find mistakes tell me in the comments and I will fix them.

“How did everything go?” Anne asked as Veronica and Marcel both got into the car.

            “It went okay.” Veronica said. She buckled herself into her seat and put her purse on the floor.

            Anne turned around and looked at Marcel slumped in the backseat with his seatbelt firmly against his chest. His backpack was sitting in the seat next to him and he had a frown on his face.

            “How was it?” Anne asked again eyebrow raised.

            Marcel huffed out a breath and raised his hands about to run his fingers trough his hair before he remembered it was slicked back and slammed his hand down on the seat. It stung a bit, but he didn’t care.

            “How did it go?” Marcel began. “Well it wasn’t like I thought it would be.”

Marcel folded his hands up and didn’t say anything else. Anne didn’t speak. She turned around cranking up the Mercedes and slowly drove out of the school parking lot. They drove home in relative silence. Marcel had his head leaned back into the seat as he tried not to think about Louis who just had him so confused that he didn’t know what to do. Veronica sat in the front changing the radio station until she found an RnB station that she liked and left it there. Anne drove trying to keep her attention to the road, but she wanted to know what happened at school that put her son so far on edge. She had never seen him this stressed out before. She wanted to know why.

  They pulled into the neighborhood passing the guards at the gate and continued down the road until they got to the end. They turned and then began going up their long lone driveway until they were pulling into their house and the garage door was closing behind them. Marcel was the first out of the car. He went quickly to the door punching in the security code and waited for the many locks to unlock and the door to open. When it did they all went into the house. Anne laid her keys on the key ring by the door and followed as Marcel and Veronica walked across the house. Marcel felt anxious as he got closer and closer to his room, but he didn’t know why. It was like a buzz that tingled in his fingers and in his chest that he wanted to go away, but it wouldn’t.

“No one likes me mum. I don’t regret going, but I just don’t understand how everything works.” Harry was loosening up his tie as they all walked up stairs and into his room. They closed the door and Harry sat down in his computer chair finally running his fingers through his hair.

Anne looked at him with saddened eyes. She had hoped today would go well, but it didn’t seem that way. “It couldn’t have been that bad sweetheart.” Anne said and turned to Zayn who was now wigless sitting cross-legged on Harry’s bed. “Was it really that bad?”

Zayn shrugged his shoulders. “It wasn’t that bad. Just this one boy, Louis, gave him sort of a hard time today.”

“What did he do?” Anne asked turning back to Harry.

Harry was staring down at his feet not really wanting look up. “I don’t know. Just one minute he’s all ‘Stay away from me” then the next minute he’s up close in my face giving me this weird look. Then out of nowhere he runs off apparently pissed off again. He hates me.”

Anne got a smile on her face and Harry looked up at her as she tried to repress a giggle. He twisted his eyebrows up at her. “What?” He said.

“Nothing sweetheart just maybe you’ve gotten ahead of yourself. I’m sure Louis is a nice boy.”

Harry scoffed. “If nice means being poked all day then yes he was _so_ nice.” Harry mumbled.

“Haz Louis wasn’t even that bad.” Zayn said standing up.

Harry looked over at him. “Easy for you to say. You’ve got Liam wrapped around your finger and you barely know him. He fancies you.”

Anne looked at him raising an eyebrow and Zayn looked back at her trying to hide the sudden flush in his cheeks, but knew he hadn’t. 

“Liam is just a friend.” Zayn said. _Liam was definitely just a friend. He wasn’t anything more than that._

Anne ran her fingers through her hair looking at both of them. It was too much going on and too much to be discussed for this conversation to continue in Harry’s bedroom. They needed to go somewhere more secure.

“Okay it seems there is a lot to discuss so before we do we need to go somewhere more secure so take showers and meet me in the Hive in an hour.” Anne walked out and closed the door.

Zayn turned to Harry as he walked toward the door. “Liam is just a friend.”

Harry rolled his eyes and walked toward his bathroom as Zayn left. He began taking off his clothes and folded them neatly putting them back in their place. He just wanted to relax for a few minutes before they had to discuss everything. So he closed the door to his bathroom and turned on the shower making it just a little hotter than comfortable because he liked it like that. He liked how when you first got in it would sting your body, but once you’ve been in there for a few minutes it started to feel really good. He liked the way it would relax his muscles. The water felt like smooth fingers going down his body. Harry leaned his head back letting the waterfall down his face and over his body as he let his mind drift away. He could see a smaller frame in front of him. Tinier, but somehow still with all the dominance that Harry knew he couldn’t possess. Harry knew whom it was he was seeing, but he didn’t want to address it, not yet, because that meant things that he didn’t want to deal with. He just wanted to relax right now even if that meant relishing in a fantasy.

Harry moved back in the large shower until his back was pressed against the wall. He grabbed the body wash and put some in his hands and began rubbing it over himself imagining it was someone else. He imagined it was a boy with eyes like sapphires and hair like a model. He imagined it was the boy’s hands traveling up and down his body pressing a soft kiss to each tattoo that Harry had. Harry’s breathing got heavier as he could see the boy pushing him up against the wall with that same look in his eyes except instead of turning away he pressed forward. Harry could see as the boy traveled down Harry’s body until he got to his already hard cock. Harry couldn’t remember when he had begun working on his own dick, but he didn’t care because mixed with his imagination it felt amazing. Harry could see as the boy smirked up at him as he moved his hands out of the way replacing Harry’s hands with his own. The boy began to tug slowly up and down Harry shaft making him let out soft moans with each tug. Harry imagined the boy wrapping the other hand around his hip pulling him closer so that as he tugged on Harry’s dick he could feel his own hardening rod. Harry imagined he could feel it against his own cock as the boy began to go faster precum leaking from the head, but the boy didn’t slow down. It was like he lived for this. It was like the only thing he wanted to do was make Harry feel good and Harry loved it. The boy sped up making more moans leave Harry’s lips. Harry could still see the boy looking up at him as he continued to pull and pull. He wanted to look away because the pleasure was so great that all he wanted to do was close his eyes, but he couldn’t. He needed to look into those blue eyes. If he looked away this image might leave him and he might come back to the reality that he was alone in his shower jerking himself off so he didn’t. He became lost in those blue eyes and he could feel it coming. The boy licked his lips as he tightened his grip a little and began tugging faster and faster on Harry’s dick. Harry’s breath began to get heavier and a chill of cold went down Harry’s spine as he saw the boy sink to his knees moving Harry’s cock toward his already opened mouth. That was it for Harry. He couldn’t take it anymore. He began to fiercely tug on his dick not even caring about a rhythm anymore. He just tugged faster and faster as he felt it building. He could feel it at the base of his stomach. He could feel it in the tightness of his balls and as his toes began to curl. He still did not let up though he tugged faster and faster until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and release spurts of white shooting out of his cock as he moaned out _Louis._ Harry tugged and tugged still going faster as his knees began to get weak and he sank to the floor of the shower slowing down as the last drops leaked out. Harry let go of his cock and opened his eyes. He was wrecked and he couldn’t bring himself to care so he sat there for a few minutes trying to regain his strength. When he did he washed off again and then got dressed heading down stairs.

 

____

 

            “Where’s Zayn” Harry asked as he came into the Hive.

            He remembered when they were first shown this room. It really was one of the securest rooms he had ever seen. A normal person probably wouldn’t even see it. In order to get to it you had to go through a false wall that led to a dark corridor. When you got there you walked down the corridor until you got to the end where there was a hand print identification. After it identified you the door would open and you would find yourself in an elevator. Once in you traveled down a few feet until it stopped and the door opened up into a lighted hallway. You would walk down the lighted hallway until you got to a door in which you had to do blood identification with a finger prick and eye identification. Once all that was done the doors opened into where Harry was now with his mom waiting on Zayn.

            Harry walked further into the room and sat down at the table that his mom was at. She hadn’t looked up yet. She was reading something, but Harry didn’t know what it was. They sat there in silence until Zayn was walking into the Hive as **Zayn** again.

            “Took long enough.” Harry said as Zayn walked over and sat down.

            “Some of us had pounds of make up and stuff to take off too.”

            Anne cleared her throat and looked up at them. She had that look on her face again and so they knew she was in business mode. So they both straightened up as she stood up grabbing whatever it was she was reading. She walked across the room until she was standing next to a large control panel that took up the entire wall. It was covered in monitors and controls that were much like the office of The Director back in London. She pressed a few buttons and the lights when off as the monitors and controls lit up. She took the folders that she had been reading and pushed them into the control panel as they disappeared. Suddenly Harry and Zayn watched as the files were now displayed largely on the wall in front of them. It was the files for the principal and the student. Anne turned back around.

            “What did you find out?”

            Zayn was the first to stand up. He handed her the vile that he had found in the theater and let out a breath.

            “Well for one her name is Svetlana Veselovsky. She was the stage manager in theater. Her foreign exchange sister who is also in my class found her, but I don’t know her name yet. That vile contains a sample of caution tape that I found. It was weird because the top of the stage was taped off, but the bottom wasn’t and I found this at the bottom of the stage. It just seems like maybe it was a mistake or maybe someone went to find something, but forgot to tape it back up. I don’t know, but the theatre teacher called the police department today so I don’t know how long things will be taped off like that. If we’re going to make a move we need to do it tonight.”

            Anne nodded her head. “Zayn I want you to run that name through the system. See if you can find anything.”  He nodded his head and walked over to the control panel. Another screen lit up and he began searching her name. Anne turned and looked at Harry. “What did you find out?”

            “Well all the disappearances except for the principal were all teenagers and people under 25 so it seems that whoever is doing this has an agenda with a certain age group in mind. Also all the disappearances happened at public events like parties, clubs, and etc. In class they were discussing it and the teacher made a comment that although the police said drugs were involved they never actually named the official drug so that means either they simply don’t know or–”

            “They’re hiding something.” Anne finished.

            “So we can scratch off any help from the local police force because whoever is doing this I think they have them on the pay role or they have infiltrated it.”

            “Okay well I guess we nee–”

            “That’s not it” Harry said.

            “Did you find out something else?” Zayn asked turning around.

            Harry stood up and began pacing the room. “Not really its just.” He ruffled his curls. “Maybe I’m over analyzing it, but…”

            “Spit it out sweetheart.”

            “I think they have infiltrated the school too.” Harry finally said letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

            “What?” Zayn said staring at him blankly.

            “How do you know?” Anne asked.

            “I don’t really it’s just when I was in class today and we were discussing the disappearances it just seemed like my teacher knew more than he was letting on. Like we were in class trying to figure out what the drug may have been and while he was asking everyone what they thought it was it was like he already knew the answer and just wanted to hear everyone’s wild guesses. Then when I said that they were hiding something I could tell it caught him by surprise. When I said it I wasn’t even speaking to the class I was muttering to myself and out of everyone he heard me. Then when I repeated what I said he said ‘Interesting’ in this voice like he was evaluating me. Then he moved on and began discussing where the disappearances happened.”

            “Okay well that would explain why they killed the principal. If they really are infiltrating the school then he would have been target number one to eliminate so that they could put someone else that works with them in place.”

            “What are we gonna do?” Harry asked.

            “Well first off Zayn have you found anything yet?” Anne asked turning around to watch him.

Zayn had his head glued to the monitor searching. “Nothing yet” He said without even turning around. It was weird because he’s done these things before and usually something comes up and nothing was coming up. It was like her life began when she started that school, which is suspicious all on its own.

            Anne turned back toward Harry. “Well since the police are out and the school is more than likely out we need to go to the school today and collect as much evidence because if what Zayn said is true then the police or whoever it is will be back soon to wipe everything away and before they do that we need to see what we can find.”

            “When are we going?” Zayn asked turning around.

            “Tonight when it gets dark and there is no chance that anyone will be at school.”

            “Okay. What do you want us to do until then?” Harry asked.

            “Well I want you to continue to search her name and see what you can find. There has got to be something on this girl even if she is an exchange student.” She turned toward Harry. “Harry I need you to take that piece if caution tape and start analyzing it. It may be small, but we should be able to get something off of it.”

            They both nodded their heads and began working on what Anne told them too. Anne began walking toward the door about to leave.

            “What are you doing?” Harry asked before his mom walked out.

            She turned around. “About to get everything ready for tonight.” She walked out.

____

 

*** 12 AM**

 

“A map?” Zayn asked watching as Anne laid out a huge map on the table.

            “A blueprint layout of the school.”

            “Where did you get that?” Harry asked looking at it.

            “Public school. Public records sweetheart.”

            They all peered down at the map. They were dressed in all black. Zayn had on black skinnies, black combat boots, and a black shirt. Harry had on black skinnies, black converses, and a black shirt. He also had his mop of curls in a black beanie. Anne had her hair up in a tight bun. She had on black leather skinnies and a shirt with a hoodie on.

            “Okay so the theatre is on the south wing of the school so we should be able to drive around the back and get in from the air ventilation system here.” She pointed to it and they nodded. She continued. “We will go through there until we get to a dead end. We will go left and crawl another foot. At that point we should be over the theatre. We should be right over the stage and if my knowledge of theatre is correct we should have a cat walk above the stage that we will be able to get onto and get down.”

            “Okay” They both said and nodded their heads. They stood up ready to go.

            It was then that Anne took a step back and hit a button at the far end of the control panel. Immediately the opposite wall lit up and extended. It opened up like a book and lit up revealing an entire arsenal of weapons and anything they might need.

            “Get what you need.” Anne said walking over. She grabbed and placed it in her boot strapping it in. She grabbed a few more things and placed it in the bag that was already filled with stuff on the table.

            Zayn and Harry both grabbed guns and put them behind their backs. They looked for a couple seconds at everything, but decided everything they needed was already in the bag so they turned around and walked back to the table. Anne pressed the button again and the wall went back to normal.

            “Ready?”

            “Yeah” Harry said and they all left out of the hive.

            The got to the end of the walkway, but instead of turning and getting on the elevator they turned left and began walking again. They didn’t say anything, but followed Anne until they got to another door. She pressed her palm up the identification system until it was done. When it was the door opened revealing an underground garage. It had the white Mercedes, the Audi, and another car. Harry stared at it as they walked over to it and he could believe his eyes. That car wasn’t even out yet.

            “Is that the Mercedes–”

            “E63 AMG.” Anne finished. “I knew you’d like it.”

            They opened the door and got in. Zayn got in the passenger seat and Harry in the back.

            “It’s not even out yet and it’s not even in black, but this one is.” Harry said sniffing the air relishing in the new car smell.

            “The Agency had it customer made for us when they sent us on this mission. It’s the fastest four doors car in the world. It’s goes from 0 to 60 in just–”

            “3.6 seconds.” Harry finished.

            “As fun as it is learning the specifics of this fine car we need to hurry up.” Zayn said from his seat where he had been quietly waiting.

            “Your right. Put your seatbelts on.” Anne said as she turned on the car and pressed a couple buttons on the top of the car.

            When she did that the garage light cut off the car began to move into the center of the room. When it was there Anne pressed another button and the floor began to move upward until they were in the garage in less than 30 seconds. It was as if the car had been parked there the entire time. She took the car out of park and pressed on the brakes.

            “Okay I know this isn’t your first mission, but I can’t help, but be a mother so stick close to me and if something happens. Do not hesitate to use your guns. They gave them to you for a reason.”

 

___

 

*** 1 AM**

 

            “Finally” Zayn said as he stepped off of the ladder and onto the stage.

            If there was one thing Zayn hated was heights and particularly unstable heights like the catwalk he was just on. It didn’t matter how many flights and missions he had to go on he would never get used to that.

            “It wasn’t even that bad.” Harry said stepping down and catching the bag that Anne threw down.

            “Easy for you to say.” Zayn said under his breath.

            Anne got down and stood on the stage. Harry put the bag down and Anne opened it up. It was a bit slippery with her leather gloves on, but she managed eventually. She reached in and handed Harry a flashlight, a couple evidence bags, and two vials.        She got the same for her. When she was done she zipped it back up and looked at them both.

            “We need to do this as quick as possible so Zayn I want you to stay up here and see what you can find. Harry and I will go down to the bottom where you found the caution tape and look there.”

            “Okay.” He said.

            When Harry and Anne were completely off stage Zayn walked all the way back and just stared at center stage. He looked at it imaging what would have happened. He could see it as he looked. There would have been a chair center stage. It would have had to been the kind of chair that they could secure to the floor in a matter of minutes, but would hold a girl. Once there they would have bound her legs and arms so that she couldn’t get free. Even if she was drugged they still would have done this, but the girl had been beaten and nearly strangled so she couldn’t have bee passed out could she?

            Zayn walked up center stage and got down to the floor. He began looking all round center stage where the nail marks would have still ben where they secured the chair, but found nothing. He didn’t even find a tiny hole, which was weird. He stood up brushing that off and walked to the top of the stage still looking at the same place. He decided to put the chair part in the back of his mind for a minute while he figured the rest out.

            If she was beaten and strangled to death then there would have been at list _some_ blood spatter. Zayn had been punched in the face repeatedly before and not even to the brink of death and after a while he began spitting out blood or his blood would come splattering out of his mouth with each blow so he knew he should at least find _something_.

            He went back out to the bag and got out a white bottle of spray that was used to find blood residue. It was the same kind that was used by most forensic scientist, but it was different in that this spray **only** picked up blood and instead of it glowing blue it glowed red. He sprayed the center stage and the surrounding area and then moved the bag out of the way. He found the light switch right off stage and turned it off. When the light was off he went back to his back and found the activator spray that would make it glow and sprayed it. He waited for a few minutes and one small red dot began to glow. He waited some more prepared for blood splatter to show to up on the stage, but found nothing except the one dot. It seemed things were getting weirder and weirder because he knew he should have found something there, but there was nothing. He didn’t understand. If this was where she had been beaten and found then this is where everything should have been, but there wasn’t which only meant one thing. It didn’t happen there. Whatever had been done to poor Lana it hadn’t happened in the theatre, but why would they do all that and then move her? What was the point? He thought about it pacing back and forth on the stage, but could only come up with **three** things:

 

  1. They wanted to show what they had done as a warning. If that was the case then why?
  2. They were covering up something else?
  3. Or they wanted whoever would come looking to find all this out? But why?



 

Why would someone go through all the trouble of beating and killing someone in one place only to move them to another? That would be transferring evidence and it would take entirely too much time so why would they do that? Zayn didn’t know, but he knew he needed to let Harry and Anne know immediately because whatever it was that was happening Zayn didn’t have a good feeling about this. Something was telling him that there was more going on then they knew. 


	4. Analyzing Evidence: Surprise?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Zayn continue to work on the case while trying to not blow their covers with Liam and Louis when they attend a music festival double date together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been 9 months and 3 weeks since I last posted a chapter and for that I am eternally sorry, but I am here again and ready to write. I have spent all day re reading this and making sure I got everything right. Now it’s 4:45 a.m. I am tired and all I want to do is sleep. So i am soooo sorry for all the grammer, spelling, etc mistakes throughout. I will fix them in a couple days. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Kudos and Comments are always much appreciated and I promise to not wait this long for an update again!

_“Oh thank God.” Anne said as Des finally opened up their hotel suit door._

_She walked in immediately kicking off her shoes not even caring where they landed. Des laughed at her as he took off his blazer and hung it over a chair._

_“It’s wasn’t even that bad. The mission went pretty well I mean…You sorta kicked that guys ass back there.”_

_Anne sat up and smiled from where she had laid down on the sofa and looked at him. “Thanks.” She said and looked down as her cheeks began to blush._

_“No problem.” He said as he watched her. He didn’t understand how he even got lucky enough to get Anne as his partner. **The** Anne that he had a crush on since…he couldn’t even remember and now here she was blushing because of **him**. He didn’t know how to process it. “Ugh I’m about to go change.” He said awkwardly. _

_“Okay.” Anne said as she got up walking toward the mirror and looked at herself._

_“I hate that I have to wear these… **things**.” Anne said scrunching up her nose at the suit she had on. “They make me look so old and I’m only 19 I’m suppose to look young and beautiful not like my mother.” _

_Anne pulled the clips out of her hair that held up her bun and ran her fingers through her hair as it fell._

_My hair looks a mess, She thought as she loosened up her tie and yanked it off._

_She turned about to go to her room, but stopped when she found Des looking at her. They stared at each other for a while before he finally spoke up. “For the record I think you look cute in anything you wear.”_

_Anne pushed her hair behind her ears and smiled. “Thanks.”_

_They stood there silently for a few minutes before Des got an idea and smiled at her. “How about we go do something tonight?”_

_“Are you sure we won’t–The Agency might mind since we’re here on a mission–they might–would they mind?”_

_“The mission’s practically over and we have a couple days to kill. They won’t be too upset with us for doing something normal for a couple hours.”_

_Anne nodded her head and ran her fingers in her hair. “What’d you have in mind?”_

_“There’s this show downtown called Lamefest. It’s a bunch of local Seattle artist. I have no clue who they are, but it might be fun.”_

_“Okay lets go.”_

_______

_The music was loud, too loud, if Anne was being honest and this group **‘Nirvana’** she thinks that’s their name wasn’t the best, but Des looked like he was having the time of his life so she wasn’t about to say anything. If she was being honest though some of the band’s less head banger songs like Love Buzz and Polly weren’t so bad._

_“You don’t like em.” Des said shouting over the crowd._

_Anne turned and smiled at him. “No they’re good I’m having fun.”_

_Des looked at her for a while and then stepped closer so that he wouldn’t have to yell. “You know we can go somewhere else. Where we go is fine as long as I’m–”_

_Anne cut him off by puttering her hand over his mouth and leaned in whispering in his ear. “We have company over your shoulder...right side…heading this way.”_

_She took her hand off. “Okay act normal.” He said grabbing her hand. “We need to get out of the crowd.”_

_They began trying to weave their way through the crowd with Anne taking the occasional look backwards._

_“They’re catching up.” Anne whispered. “Do you have your gun with you?”_

_“Yeah both of mine…yours?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_They began speeding up being pushier through the crowd now. They were nearly at the exit door that led to the other parts of the venue._

_“How many are there?” Des said as he noticed more coming from near the stage. “We’re gonna have to make a run for it.”_

_“Okay just don’t.” Anne began to say, but stopped. Des turned around forgetting everything for a moment and stepped in closer to her. “Don’t let go okay?”_

_Des brought his hand up to her soft cheek and smiled. “Never.”_

_Anne nodded her head and gripped his hand tighter as they began to run out knowing they were being followed. She didn’t care what happened after this moment because she had found **it**. She didn’t care what her life had in store for her as long as she got to spend it with the man holding her hand. She knew everything would be okay as long as– _

 

            “Fuck.” Zayn yelled pushing away from the control panel and bringing Anne out of her memory.

            “Language.” Anne said turning to look at him.

            “I’m sorry, but I’m just…it’s been 2 weeks and we haven’t found anything. There’s nothing on Svetlana in the U.S database at least and I have no clue why they would just kill a random girl, especially considering she wasn’t even from Seattle.”

            Anne ran her fingers through hair and thought about it for a minute. “Okay boys lets just go over everything.”

            “Again?” Harry said with a groan looking up from where he had given up an hour ago and was playing a game on his phone. He couldn’t even count the number of times that they had done that already to come up with the same things.

            “Honey please.” Anne said taking his phone out of his hand and putting it down. “Yes again because if we’re not getting anywhere it’s because we’ve over looked something.”

            Anne walked over and pushed a button on the control panel and 2 of the screens lit up with the files of the principal and the student. “Okay so lets start off with everything we know.”

            Harry got out of his chair and looked at the screens. “Disappearances have been going on around town mainly in the 16-25 age bracket.” Harry said.

            “Lana was found dead by the girl she’s been staying with on the stage in a chair except when I looked I only found one spot of blood on the stage which suggest that she wasn’t actually killed there, but moved there after she was killed.” Zayn said sagging in his chair.

            “Okay and Harry you think the police and the school are both out because they’ve been compromised…Is that correct?”

            “Yeah and my teacher hasn’t talked any more about the cases and has been looking at me way more than normal so I think we can count that as fact.”

            “Okay what else do we know?” Anne said.

            “I think that’s it mum I mean other than the one bit of evidence we had was too small to even pull a partial print from. We don’t know anything else.”

            “What about Louis and Liam have you two found anything out from them?”

            “Ugh not really.” Zayn said first. “They seem pretty clean to me just normal high school students. The only information I got about the case was from a girl named Kat in my theater class. I’m not even sure if Liam or Louis do the party thing.”

            “Well.” Harry said ruffling his curls. “Lou spends more time torturing me than actually holding a conversation so I’d say he’s clean from what I know. He hasn’t done anything suspicious other than _once_ , but nothing that says he knows anything about what’s been going on.”

            Anne nodded her head and thought about everything for a moment. They really didn’t know anything, but she still couldn’t shake the unmistakable feeling that they were completely missing something. She didn’t know what it was, but could feel it buzzing in her head. She huffed out a breath ready to give up when it hit her and her eyes widened.

            “Ugh mum what–” Harry began, but was cut off by his mother.

            “Zayn, Lana was a foreign exchange student right?”

            “Yeah from Russia”

            “Do we know what school she transferred from?” Anne asked. “We may find out more about her if we trance her back to Russia instead of strictly in the states.

            “Okay.” Zayn said as him and Harry both turned around and began looking through the database.

            It was only a minute later when Harry was shouting that he found it.

            “What’s the name of the school?”

            “Well ugh I can’t actually pronounce it, but this…” Harry said pointing to the name of the school. “…it’s listed as her original high school.”

            “Okay Zayn I need you to hack into that schools database and see if you can find any information on Svetlana.”

            “Harry I need you to get me a list of all the people who disappeared. The ones who are back and the ones still missing?”

            Harry nodded his head and Zayn turned around and began searching through the database. It didn’t take long for him to hack into, which he was happy about, but the smile was soon gone from his face when he couldn’t find a single thing on Svetlana. He looked through out the schools files over and over again even going as far back as twenty years and found no trace of Svetlana Veselovsky ever going there.

            Zayn clenched his fist and turned around in his chair. “I can’t find anything.” Zayn said again for the millionth time.

            “Seriously?” Harry said looking away from his screen.

            “Okay well do a country wide search and look at everything from birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, newspaper articles, everything okay? Search every girl with the first name Svetlana between the ages of 16 and 25. That should narrow it down a bit. You can put it on auto search to make it go faster. Any information that you can pull from what you already know about her the better. I’ll be right back. ” Anne said and left the hive.

            Zayn nodded his head and searched her for what he knew was the billionth time already narrowing down the search just like she wanted him too and putting it on auto search. He watched the progression bar as it went absolutely nowhere and huffed out a breath as his phone began playing the batman theme song.

            “Zayn why is–”

            “Liam’s calling.” Zayn said eyes widening. “What am I supposed to do I mean I can’t just–”

            “–He can’t actually see you just answer the phone like you’re Veronica.”

            The Batman theme song began playing again and Zayn looked at it for a minute before taking a deep breath and answering the phone.

            “Hello.” Veronica said into the phone.

            Harry began to laugh where he was sitting and Zayn shot him the finger before bringing his attention back to the phone.

            “Hey Veronica you busy?” Liam said from the other side of the phone.

            “No I’m not busy.”

            “Okay um I was wondering or we…me and Lou were wondering if you and Marcel might want to catch a movie tonight and then like get something to eat or something you know just hang out not like a date unless you want it to be a date or–”

            “Liam are you asking me out on a date?” Veronica asked into the phone.

            “Yeah I guess I am, but only if you want and it would be a double date for your brother and Lou if that’s okay?” Liam said hesitantly.

            “Okay well hold on a bit and let me ask him okay?” Veronica said and put the phone on mute. Zayn put the phone face down and looked at Harry. “Liam wants us to go on a double date with him and Louis…You i–”

            “–Absolutely not.” Harry said before he could even finish. “Louis hates me and you know what?” Harry said standing up in his chair. “I don’t enjoy his company either. He is annoying and so you can just te–”

            “–Marcel said he’d love too.” Zayn said into the phone as Veronica in the middle of Harry’s rant.

            “Okay cool um the movie starts at 7 if that’s okay and then after we can get food or something.”

            “Okay I’ll see you then.” Veronica said.

            “Okay cool um bye.” Liam said awkwardly and Zayn hung up the phone.

            Harry stood their looking at Zayn with a blank face. “What was that?”

            “We’re going on a date in like 2 hours so get dressed.”

            “But…but what about the–”

            “You heard Anne put it on auto search and we’ll look at what we found when we get back it’s not that big of a deal.”

            Harry dropped his hands like he was a small child and looked at Zayn speaking in a winey voice. “But I have nothing to wear.”

 

#

 

            “Harry stop fidgeting.” Zayn whispered as they stood outside the theater waiting on Liam and Louis.

            “I can’t help it.” He said pulling at his sweater vest again. “I mean have you even had to wear something like this.” He looked at Zayn who just rolled his eyes and leaned further into the concrete wall letting his long hair curl around his shoulders. “Exactly.” Harry said. “We’re in the same boat I know, but look at these clothes. Who could actually function in these clothes they’re so t–”

            “–Having a melt down are we Marcy.” Harry heard Louis say from behind him. Zayn leaned up from the wall and smiled behind Harry and Harry rolled his eyes turning around as Marcel. “It’s wonderful to meet you too Louis.” Harry said crossing his arms. “I’m quite fine thank y–”

            “Oh don’t start Marcy.” Louis said walking closer to Marcel with a smirk on his face. It only made Marcel frown more. “I was only teasing. You do look like you’re a bit uncomfortable though if I’m being honest.”

            “You look alright to me Marcel.” Liam said from beside Louis.

            “Well at least someone thinks so.” Marcel looked directly at Louis who simply rolled his eyes and put his hands in his jean jacket.

            “Well as much as I would love spending the rest of my evening outside this lovely theater we should get a move on if we’re gonna catch any of the good bands at Bumbershoot.”

            “Bands?” Veronica said from beside Marcel.

            Marcel looked confused too. “I thought we were going to the movies?” He asked looking between Louis and Liam.

            “Well see we were, but I said we could catch a movie before actually looking at what was playing and they’re aren’t really any interesting movies playing at the moment so we thought that maybe catching the music festival today would be cool, but only if you want too I mean we could do something else or–”

            “No um that’s cool if Marcel is okay with it?” Veronica looked at Marcel as did everyone else.

            Marcel felt weird with all the attention suddenly on him. They were all looking at him like he held the answer to life or the universe. He looked down at his feet and began fidgeting his hands. He was nervous because he wanted to go. He loved music festivals. He tried to catch them as much as he could back in London, but would _Marcel_ like music festivals? He didn’t know what to do. The clothes really weren’t that bad. He had actually been more anxious than anything because of Louis, but now he was gonna have to spend an entire evening with him. And not just that he would have to pretend to be someone else the entire time during the festival. He honestly didn’t know if he could pull it off–A sweater vest wasn’t ideal for a music festival either.

            Veronica looked at Marcel. She could tell he was worrying about something. She turned to Liam and pushed her hair back. “Let me talk to him for a minute.”

            Liam nodded his head and she walked away catching Marcel by the arm and walking a few feet away from them so that she could talk to him without them over hearing. “What’s wrong?” Zayn asked when they were far enough away. “You should be all over this you love music festivals.”

            “But that’s the thing Zayn _I_ love them.” Harry looked down at his feet and then up. “Marcel on the other hand…” He faded off.

            Zayn let out a sigh and brought his hands up to Harry making him give him his attention. “Harry _you_ love music festivals. It’s your thing. It’s _your_ thing and right now _you’re_ Marcel. You make the decision on what he will and won’t like. I know The Agency expected you to be this super nerd or something, but be the Marcel _you_ would be. You remember what Anne said don’t you? We have to make this believable and if you go in there over thinking it they are gonna be able to call bullshit a mile away, but if you be yourself and not think about it then it won’t matter. Anne said we have to make everyone believe we are these people so be the person you think Marcel is and have fun because I really think you’re wrong about Louis.”

            Harry scoffed at that, but smiled. “Yeah okay.”

            Zayn smiled and wrapped Harry up in a hug that he returned. When they separated he smiled over at Liam and Liam got the biggest smile on his face.

            “I see a smile.” Liam said. “Is that a yes or?”

            “It’s a yes.” Veronica said walking back over to them.

            “Finally.” Louis said trying to sound annoyed yet you could still see a slight smile across his face. “We need to go so we don’t miss the good bands.”

            “Okay Lou.” Liam said turning to look at him. “We’re leaving.”

_____

 

 

            “What are you doing?” Louis asked from the drivers seat. He could see Marcel making a lot of movement in the passenger seat, but he couldn’t exactly see what he was doing.

            Marcel let out a breath. “If you must know Lewis I am making some changes to my appearance.”

            “Lewis?” Louis asked raising an eyebrow then laughed. “And why is that?”

            “Well you did say we were going to a music festival.” Marcel replied. “I would like to be properly dressed.”

            Louis didn’t even say anything because _who was this guy,_ he thought to himself.

            Marcel didn’t say anything either. He just pulled his sweater vest over his head and took it off folding it neatly and putting it on the floor. He then took off his tie and placed it with his sweater vest. When that was done he unbuttoned the two top buttons of his button up and then looked over himself. He turned around in his seat and looked back at Veronica and Liam who were so into each other it took him randomly coughing _four times_ to even get there attention. When they finally did look though he raised his eyebrow and waited for an answer.

            “Does this look okay?” He asked.

            “You look fine.” Veronica said automatically.

            “Yeah.” Liam said. “You look good.”

            Marcel nodded his head, but then turned around in his seat. He began tapping his foot and then tapping his fingers against his thigh. His heart was speeding up and he had the strongest urge to look over at Louis for his approval, but he didn’t know why. He chanced a look from his peripherals, but Louis was looking at the road in front of him. Marcel let out a breath and stilled his tapping trying to calm himself down. He looked out to the road ahead of them and could see the festival up ahead. It only made him more nervous and the closer they got the more he began to tremble. He looked over at Louis again and his hands were gripping the steering wheel tighter than had been before. His body was tenser than it had been before.

            “Louis are you–”

            “–Good.” He said too quickly. “Just wish these people would hurry up so we could get into the festival. We needed to be there two seconds ago.” Harry nodded his head and looked away.

            Liam and Veronica both looked at Marcel and Louis and then looked at each other. Liam got out his phone and opened up his notepad and began typing.

 

 **Liam:** **_I’ve never seen Lou like this before. I used to think he really didn’t like Marcel, but ugh idk…He’s looked at him the whole drive over here even though he’s trying to hide it._**

 

**Veronica: _I think Marcel likes him even though he doesn’t realize it yet. I’ve never seen him act like this over anyone before either._**

            Liam read what Veronica typed and smiled at her. Louis looked in the overhead mirror and raised his eyebrow at them. “What’s so funny?” He asked.

            “Nothing.” Liam said laughing a bit now. “Veronica said something funny.”

            Harry looked back at Veronica and Louis continued to look at them through the mirror. “Liam you do realize you’re a terrible liar right?” Liam opened his mouth to speak, but Louis cut him off before he even had a chance to say anything. “But I will let it go this time and only this once because thank God we’re finally at the gates.”

            Louis pulled up to the security gates where Marcel could clearly see there was a policeman standing. He didn’t know how they were going to get in because they had passed the main entrance and had come around to where they were now. The police walked up to the car and tapped on the window and Louis rolled it down.

            “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to direct you toward the main entrance.” The police officer said.

            Louis didn’t say anything though. He simply smiled, pulled something out of the inside of his jacket, and showed it to the man. Instantly the man’s demeanor changed. He cleared his throat and straightened up his posture. “Sorry sir you can go on through. You’re clear.”

            “Thank you officer.” Louis said with a smirk on his face.

            Marcel on the other hand was puzzled. What had even just happened? He pulled out his phone and shot Veronica a text asking her this exact thing, but only got a shrug of the shoulders that he could see from the mirror outside his door. Liam however didn’t miss the exchange, but he didn’t say anything. He pretended not to notice, but Louis could sense it.

            He looked over at Marcel after pulling into a parking space. The loud music could be heard from the car like they were already right next to the stage. Louis unbuckled his seat belt. “We’re here.” He said excitement clearly on his face. He opened his car door and got out. Everyone followed him and got out of the car and began walking toward the grass where the large crowds could be seen.

            Marcel looked over and Liam and Veronica and they were still wrapped up in each other like they had been since the day they had first got there. Marcel looked away and sped up falling in step with Louis. Louis looked over at him and then stopped in his tracks making Marcel stop too.

            “Let me.” Louis said as he placed his hands on Marcel’s shoulders indicating for him not to go anywhere.

            Marcel then watched as Louis dropped down to the ground and began rolling up his trousers.

            “Louis what are you doing?”

            Louis looked up, but didn’t stop what he was doing. “Making some changes to your appearance.” He said mimicking Marcel. “It is a music festival after all.” He got done doing his skinny jeans and stood back up looking at his handy work. He looked over Marcel’s entire body. His heartbeat sped up a bit, but he promptly ignored that continuing his inspection until he got to Marcel’s hair. He raised his hand about to touch Marcel’s hair, but he moved his head back and Louis stopped letting out an exasperated sound. “I’m not gonna bite Marcy.”

            “Alright.” Marcel said in defeat and let Louis move his hand to his hair.

            When Louis’ hand made contact with Marcel’s hair he closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. He didn’t before he could even control what was happening. He could feel Louis moving his fingers over his hair so gently trying to comb his fingers through it, but with as much product he had in it he knew it wouldn’t be possible, but he didn’t care. He just wanted it to never end. He fluttered his eyes opened and sucked in another breath as he and Louis made eye contact. His heart sped up again and this time it wasn’t from anxiety. He felt like he did in the bathroom stall the first day he had met Louis. Louis was looking at him the same too. His blue eyes couldn’t turn away from Marcel and he couldn’t move his hand from where it was. Marcel stepped forward with a confidence that was 100% Harry and then stopped still looking at Louis. This seemed to snap something in Louis because instantly he was coughing awkwardly, removing his hand, and stepping away from Marcel. He looked down at the ground and then back up again.

            “Yeah um we should get going before we miss…” He faded off. He couldn’t even concentrate with what had just happened still on his mind.

            “Okay.” Marcel said and for the first time he smiled at Louis.

____

 

            “You think it’s okay to leave them?” Veronica asked as her and Liam continued walking after Louis and Marcel stopped.

            “Yeah.” Liam said smiling. “Louis will take care of him.”

            Veronica looked skeptical and looked back one more time. Liam grabbed her hand and moved closer to her. “I know Louis can come off a bit insensitive sometimes, but it’s all an act. If Louis really didn’t like you you’d known it. He wouldn’t spend so much time bugging Marcel so much if he didn’t enjoy his company a little. Its Louis’ weird way of showing people he really likes them. He doesn’t really mean any of it. Most of it’s just teasing.”

            Veronica nodded her head and Liam smiled at her. He knew he had been doing that a lot lately, but he couldn’t help it.

            “You’re a really good big sister.” He said suddenly.

            Veronica pushed her hair out of the way and looked back at him as they continued walking. “Cousin technically, but yeah I love Marcel.”

            Liam eyes widened in surprise at that. “But you call him your brother I just sort of assumed…”

            “Well it’s just…” Veronica trailed off. She didn’t like talking about this. _Zayn_ didn’t like talking about this, but for some reason he felt like he could trust Liam. He felt different about him like for once he could be around without holding his guard up a million feet high. “My parents well they died when I was young and after that they were all I had. They’re the only family I’ve got pretty much so Marcel is like my brother. We’re that close. I guess I just forget sometimes that he’s not really my brother.”

            Liam nodded his head, but didn’t comment. He just got out his phone shot Louis a text and then continued to walk. They didn’t speak much after that. They simply weaved in and out of the large crowd with Liam never letting Veronica’s hand go. She was grateful for it. They passed stage after stage until finally curiosity got the best of her and she finally spoke up.

            “Anyone in particular you want to see?” Veronica asked. “We’ve passed so many bands already.”

            “Kendrick Lamar.” Liam said. “He goes on in like fifteen minutes.”

            “I like Kendrick.” Veronica said softly. “He’s really good.”

            “Really?” Liam said in disbelief.

            “Yeah.”

            Liam smiled at her and they continued walking until they could both see the stage. There was a huge crowd, but even from where they were Veronica could see where the last band had obviously left because other stuff was being set up in it’s place.

            “We’re here.” Liam said looking at Veronica. They were standing at the back of the crowd. Kendrick Lamar was walking on stage. “We can get closer if you want?”

            Veronica squeezed Liam’s hand and shook her head. “I’m fine right here.”

            Liam smiled at her as the beginning of Real began to play. He turned back and watched as Kendrick introduced himself and then Anna Wise walked on stage as well. The crowd went wild, but even with the sound of the music now playing in its full force he wasn’t really paying it any attention now because all of his attention was on _her._ Veronica was moving her head in time with the beat and saying the lyrics as Kendrick rapped them. She was caught up in her own world surrounded by the song that was playing now while he was caught up in her. There is no telling how long they stood there before they ended in the position the are now with Veronica standing in front of Liam while Liam has his Right arm draped over her shoulder across her chest and her left hand holding on to his arm so gently yet as if she would never let it go. They both got lost in it until they concert going on in front of them didn’t even matter any more because they were too caught up I each other.

_____

 

 

            Louis turned to Marcel who had the biggest smile on his face as the latest band that they just got done watching walked off stage to make way for another.

            “I didn’t actually think you’d like this at all. Thought you’d rather be at a math camp or something no offense.” Louis said gently.

            Marcel didn’t seem fazed by it because he ran his hand through his damp from sweat hair that was now beginning to curl back up hair and shrugged his shoulders. “I like music.” Marcel said matter-of-fact. “And I’m actually pretty crap at Math.”

            A smile grew on Louis face. “Well that spoils my plans of getting you to do my work for me.” He said jokingly. “Gonna have to find someone else now.”

            “I could still do it.” Harry said smiling. “If you don’t mind having like a D in math. I’d be perfect then.”

            Louis let out a big laugh. He held his stomach and curled over as it shook through him. “I think I could do that on my own Marcy, but thanks for the offer.”

            They grew silent after that, but it was comfortable. Louis watched Marcel as he turned back to the stage as the new band began playing something that Louis didn’t recognize or care about if he was being honest. He looked back at the stage too, but soon found himself sneaking glances at the boy beside him every few seconds. He just didn’t know Marcel could be this _relaxed._ He had known him for basically a month now and he had never seen him this relaxed. It was like he was in his element. He still had on his glasses. His posture was still drooped in a way that obviously he’s been doing for years, but he was different. It was like he was the same person, but not. Louis didn’t want to admit it and wouldn’t if he was asked at this point, but Marcel was okay. He was actually more than okay.

            Louis’ shook his head because what was even getting into him. He needed a distraction for a bit so he took out his phone and looked at a text message Liam sent him 45 minutes earlier.

 

**Liam: _need to leave. Just found out some stuff that can’t wait. Don’t say anything to Marcel… I’m about to watch Kendrick with Veronica then we’re leavin… be at the car in like an hour._**

           

            Louis rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone. He turned around to find Marcel looking at him.

            “Something wrong?”

            Louis smiled at him easily covering up his emotions. “No just we’re about to leave. Suppose to be meeting Liam at the car about now.”

            “You don’t look so excited.” Marcel commented.

            Louis didn’t answer, but simply shrugged his shoulders and took one last look at the stage. He turned back to Marcel and grabbed his hand as a he got the greatest idea and a huge smile came across his face. Marcel looked down at their hands and then back up to Louis who was actually a bit shorter than him.

            “Race you back to the car.” Louis said looking up at Marcel.

            “When?” Marcel asked giggly now.

            “Now.” Louis said and took off running through the crowd. Marcel curled over laughing, but took off running after Louis who was way faster than he was he had to admit. He watched as Louis made it to the car at least a minute before he had. He didn’t mind though and when he finally did get there Liam and Veronica were already there with Veronica firmly sipping on a bottle of water that Marcel wished he had at the current moment.

            “Look who finally showed up,” Louis said as Marcel got into the passenger seat of the car. “And look his hair is all messed and pretty too.” Louis said as he started up the car and whipped it out of the parking space.

            Marcel took a few minutes to catch his breath. He rolled the window down a bit and let the wind blow into his face as Louis drove back toward the theater. Marcel took out his phone in the meantime and shot his mom a text about picking them up, but she sent him one back almost immediately about already being there. When he finally caught his breath he looked over at Louis trying to hold in a grin, but couldn’t.

            “You cheated.”

            “No I didn’t cheat.” Louis said as he slowed down. He saw the cinema coming into view. “I’m just simply a quick thinker.”

            “Okay.” Marcel said as the car stopped. He could see where his mom was in the car and something looked off.

            “Thanks for the ride.” He said as he took off his seatbelt and got out of the car completely forgetting his sweater and tie.

            “Yeah thanks for the festival.” She said as she closed the door to Louis car. They both waved back one more time before running across the street so they wouldn’t get hit and got in their car. They watched Louis and Liam drive away, but even then Anne didn’t movie.

            “What’s wrong?” Harry asked not even able to keep up his Marcel voice anymore. He could tell something was wrong with his mom. She even looked like she had ben crying.

            “Anne?” Zayn said. “What’s wrong?”

            Anne let out a breath and wiped her eyes. She turned around in her seat and looked at them both. Her voice was shaky, but firm. “I found something today so...” She said trailing of. “I think it’s time I told you the truth about something?”

            Zayn and Harry both looked at each other.

            “The truth about what?” Harry asked.

            Anne ran her fingers through her hair. “The truth about ‘B’?”

_____

 

            “Open the king’s gates.” Liam said in fluent Russian.

            The wide metal door opened and they looked around them to make sure they hadn’t been followed before they walked in letting the door close behind.

            “What is all this about?” Louis asked.

            Liam didn’t answer his question though. “Did you get his sweater and tie from the car?”

            “Clearly Liam.” Louis said annoyed. “This isn’t a pillow I’m holding in my hands. Now what is this all about?” Louis demanded as they walked through another set of double doors and came to fingerprint identification.

            Liam turned his head and faced Louis as he laid his hand on the scanner letting it do its job. “Veronica and Marcel aren’t siblings. They’re cousins.”

            “Okay?” Louis said as the other set of double doors opened and they entered a control room. The entire room was filled with people, but Louis wasn’t really paying attention to them. He simply followed beside Liam and continued talking. “And what does that have to do with us basically about to background check them?”

            “Veronica’s parents died when she was really little and she’s been staying with them ever since. Sound familiar?”

            Louis came to a complete stop. “You’ve got to be kidding me right? Liam we’ve spent our entire lives on this case. We’ve been trained to know every detail of this case. We’ve been over here in these God forsaken states for three years Liam on this case. How are you forgetting the most essential part of the identity of the two people we’re looking for?” Louis paused, but continued on almost immediately. “They’re supposed to be two boys Liam! Veronica if you haven’t noticed is a girl and have you seen Marcel. Did you see the way he was running? He could barely stop tripping over his own two feet let alone be a government agent. Please tell me this is _not_ what you’ve dragged us all the way here for?”

            “I could be wrong.” Liam said stepping up to Louis. “But we’ve been working on this case for too long without any leads. Forgive me if I see the first hope I’ve seen since the time I was oldest even to what a case was and I’ve decided to take it. It could go nowhere, but at this point we’ve got nothing to lose.”

            “Yeah yeah.” Louis said as they continued walking past everyone, through another set of doors, and into the lab. “Don’t have to go all macho on me.”

            “Sorry.” Liam said gently. “Just kind want a break in the–”

            “–Didn’t expect to see you here?” Pavel said in a Russian accent cutting Liam off.

            Liam looked at him with an exasperated expression. “Yeah me either, but I think I may have finally found something.”

            “Ah.” Pavel said putting on rubber gloves and reaching out for the sweat, tie, and water bottle. “Well let’s take a look shall we?”

            Liam and Louis watched Pavel wordlessly as he extracted the DNA it needed from each of their personal items and then began running it through their system. They watched the large monitors covering completely one wall for what seemed like hours as face after face scrolled past them without stopping on any one of them. Liam was beginning to feel hopeless like maybe Louis had been right and he was just trying to grab onto air, but just as he was about to give up it stopped and began blinking “MATCH” in big bold red letter on two sides of the wall.

            Pavel smiled at Liam. “It seems we have a match.”

            He clicked a button and the two faced along with all their information came up largely onto the large screen.

            “Fuck.” Louis said first as he looked at the right monitor because they had really found something. “Shit I didn’t…” he trailed off and looked at the left monitor. “Liam I was wrong? Veronica isn’t a girl. She’s just a really good looking boy with the best cheek bones and…”

            “Zayn Ma–” Pavel begin saying, but stopped. He looked at Liam who was too in shock. “Liam you’ve done it. You’ve really done it”

            Pavel ran over and began hugging Liam, but he couldn’t hug him back. He didn’t know how to feel. He knew that it probably was true, but there was a part of him that had hoped the search would come up blank. He thought he had begun to actually like her–him, but now it didn’t matter. Now it was strictly business.

            Liam gently moved out of Pavel’s grip and began reading the info off the screen. “Zayn Malik, Male, 20 years old, Parents: Trisha Malik and Yaser Malik, A member of The Agency, London.” Liam let out a sigh and took his eyes away from the board looking down as Louis did the same. He just couldn’t look at it anymore.

“Harry Styles, Male, 19 years old, Parent: Anne Cox, Father (deceased).”

Louis ran his hands through his hair and turned to look at Liam. “Liam I’m really sorry. I know you really liked Ve–”

“Doesn’t matter now.” Liam said rising from where he had been leaning on a table and headed for the door. “We’ve got business to take care of.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought? Oh and Kudos and Comments are much appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you are enjoying this fic. I would love you forever if you left kudos and comments.


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